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DEMON OP ANDERSONVILLE; 

»■ 

OR, THE 

TRIAL OF WIRZ, 

. 

FOR THE 


CRUEL TREATMENT AND BRUTAL MURDER OF HELPLESS UNION 
PRISONERS IN HIS HANDS. 




> L 

THE 


MOST HIGHLY EXCITING AND INTERESTING 

TRIAL OF THE PRESENT CENTURY. 


LIFE .A^I) EXECUTION. 


containing also 


A HISTORY OF ANDERSONVILLE, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS, TRUTH? 
FULLY REPRESENTING THE HORRIBLE SCENES OF 
CRUELTY PERPETRATED BY HIM. 




PHILADELPHIA: 


BARCLAY & CO.. 

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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by 
BARCLAY & CO., 

In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States, ic 


Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 


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DIAGRAM OF ANDERSONVILLE PRISON PEN. 



























































































THE 


TRIAL. 


THE FIRST DAY’S PRO CEEDINGS—THE 
CHARGES AND SP^CIFICATIONS- 
STATEMENT OF THE PRISONER'S 
COTJNSEL—THEY DENY THE JURIS¬ 
DICTION OF THE COURT. 

The special Military Commission convened 
«m Monday afternoon, August 21st, in the 
Court of Claims room, at the Capitol; Major- 
General Wallace, President, and Colonel 
Ghipman, Judge-Advocate. 

At one and a-half o'clock, Captain Wirz, 
the prisoner to be tried, was brought into the 
room, guarded on each side by a soldier. The 
prisoner was requested to rise, when Colonel 
Ghipman said: * 

“ Captain Wirz, you are to be tried by this 
Military Commission. Have you any per¬ 
sonal objection to any of its members?” 

Judge Hughes, of the counsel, said he pro¬ 
posed to make no objection of a personal 
character. They would, however, at a subse¬ 
quent stage of the proceedings, ask to be 
heard on the plea of general jurisdiction, 
especially objecting to the mode of constitu¬ 
ting the Court. But if the prisoner was to 
be tried by a Military Commission, he would 
as soon be tried by this one as any other. 

The members of the Commission were then 
•worn. 

The Judge-Advocate informed the prisoner 
that he was arraigned for trial under the 
name of Henry Wirz. Was that the name ? 

The prisoner replied that it was. 

Judge Hughes desired to say that the 
charges and specifications were not delivered 
to the prisoner until yesterday afternoon, 
and were not seen by his counsel until this 
morning; therefore they had not sufficient 
time to examine them. 

Colonel Chipman said the counsel could 
ask for delay after the arraignment, and then 
proceeded to read the charges and specifi¬ 
cations preferred against Henry Wirz, as 
follows: 

Charge First —Malicidusly, wilfully, and 
traitorously, and in aid of the then-existing 
armed rebellion against the United States of 
America, on or before the 1st day of March, 
A. D. 1864, and on divers other days between 
that day and the 10th day of April, 1865 r 
combining, confederating, and conspiring, to¬ 
gether wiih Robert E. Lee, James A. Seddon, 


John H. Winder, Lucius D. Northrop, Rich¬ 
ard B. Winder, Joseph White, W. S. Winder, 
R. R. Stevenson,-Moore, and others un¬ 

known, to injure the health and destroy the 
lives of soldiers in the military service of the 
United States, then held and being prisoners 
of war within the lines of the so-called Con¬ 
federate States, and in the military prisons 
thereof, to the end that the armies of th® 
United States might be weakened and im¬ 
paired, in violation of the laws and customs 
of war. 

Specification —In this: that he, the said 
Henry Wirz, did combine, confederate, and 
conspire with them, the said Robert B. 
Lee, James A. Seddon, John H. Winder, 
Lucius H. Northrop, Richard B. Winder, 
Joseph White, W. S. Winder, R. R. Steven¬ 
son, -Moore, and others, whose names 

are unknown, citizens of the United States 
aforesaid, and who were then engaged in 
armed rebellion against the United States, 
maliciously, traitorously, and in violation of 
the laws of war, to impair and injure the 
health and to destroy the lives, by subjecting 
to torture and great suffering, by confining 
in unhealthy and unwholesome quarters, by 
exposing to the inclemency of winter and to 
the dews and burning sun of summer, by 
compelling the use of impure water, and by 
furnishing insufficient and unwholesome food, 
of large numbers of Federal prisoners, soldiers 
in the military service of the United State* 
of America, held as prisoners of war at 
Andersonville, in the State of Georgia, 
within the lines of the so-called Confederate 
States, on or before the 1st day of March, 
A. D. 1864, and at divers times between that 
day and the 10th day of April, A. D. 1865, to 
the end that the armies of the United States 
might be weakened and impaired, and the 
insurgents engaged in armed rebellion against 
the United States might be aided and com¬ 
forted; and he, the said Henry Wirz, an 
officer in the military service of the so-called 
Confederate States, being then and there 
commandant of a military prison at Ander- 
sonyille, in the State of Georgia, located by 
authority of the so-called Confederate States 
for the confinement of prisoners of war, and 
as such commandant, fully clothed with 
authority and in duty bound to treat, care, 
and provide for such prisoners held, as afore- 

(29) 




THE TRIAL 


30 

said, as were or might be placed in bis cus¬ 
tody, according to the law of war, did in fur¬ 
therance of such combination, confederation, 
and conspiracy, and incited thereunto by them, 
the said Robert E. Lee, James A. Seddon, 
John H. Winder, Luciu? H. Northrop, Rich¬ 
ard B. Winder, Joseph White, W. S. Winder, 

R. R. Stevenson,-Moore, and others whose 

names are unknown, maliciously, wickedly, 
and traitorously confine a large number of 
such prisoners of war, soldiers in the military 
service of the United States, to the number 
of thirty thousand men, in unhealthy and 
unwholesome quarters, in a close and small 
area of ground, wholly inadequate to their 
wants and destructive to their health, which 
he well knew and intended, and while there 
so confined during the time aforesaid, did, in 
furtherance of his evil design, and in aid of 
the said conspiracy, wilfully and maliciously 
neglect to furnish tents, barracks, or other 
shelter sufficient for their protection from the 
Inclemency of winter, and the dews and 
burning sun of summer, and with such evil 
intent did take and cause to be taken from 
them their clothing, blankets, camp equipage, 
and other property of which they were pos¬ 
sessed at the time of being placed in his 
custody; and with like malice and evil intent, 
did refuse to furnish, or cause to be furnished, 
food, either of a quality or quantity sufficient 
to preserve health and sustain life, and did 
refuse and neglect to furnish wood sufficient 
for cooking in summer, and to keep the said 
prisoners warm in winter, and did compel the 
said prisoners to subsist upon unwholesome 
water, reeking with the filth and garbage of 
the prison and prison-yard, and the offal and 
drainage of the cook-house of said prison, 
whereby the prisoners became ‘ greatly re¬ 
duced in their bodily strengh, and emaciated 
and injured in their bodily health, their 
minds impaired, and their intellects broken, 
and many of them, to wit: ten thousand, 
whose names are unknown, sickened and died 
by reason thereof, which he, the said Henry 
Wirz, then and there well knew and intended; 
and so knowing and evilly intending, did 
refuse and neglect to provide proper lodgings, 
food, or nourishment for the sick, and neces¬ 
sary medicine and medical attendance for the 
restoration of their health, and did knowingly, 
maliciously, and wilfully, in furtherance of 
his evil designs, permit them to languish and 
die from want of care and proper treatment. 
And the said Henry Wirz, still pursuing his 
evil purposes, did permit to remain in the 
said prison, among the emaciated, sick, and 
languishing living, the bodies of the dead, 
until they became corrupt and loathsome, 
and filled the air with fetid and noxious 
exhalations, and thereby greatly increased 
the unwholesomeness of the prison, insomuch 
that great numbers of said prisoners, to wit: 
the number of one thousand, whose names 
are unknown, sickened and died by reason 
thereof. And the said Henry Wirz, still 
pursuing his wicked and cruel purpose, 


wholly disregarding the usages of civilized 
warfare, did at the time and place aforesaid, 
maliciously and wilfully subject the prisoners 
aforesaid to. cruel, unusual, and infamous 
punishment upon slight, trivial, and fictitious 
pretences, by fastening large balls of iron to 
their feet, and binding large numbers of the 
prisoners aforesaid closely together with 
large chains around their necks and feet, so 
that they walked with the greatest difficulty, 
and being so confined, were subjected to the 
burning rays of the sun, often without food 
or drink for hours, and even days, from which 
said cruel treatment, large numbers, to wit: 
the number of one hundred, whose names are 
unknown, sickened, fainted, and died. And 
he, the said Wirz, did further cruelly treat 
and injure said prisoners by maliciously con¬ 
fining them within an instrument of torture 
called “ the stocks,” thus depriving them of 
the use of their limbs, and forcing them to 
lie, sit, and stand for many hours without 
the power of changing position, and being 
without food or drink, in consequence of 
which many, to wit: the number of thirty ,? 
whose names are unknown, sickened and 
died. And by the said Wirz, still wickedly 
pursuing his evil purposes, did establish and 
cause to be designated within the prison 
inclosure containing said prisoners, a dead¬ 
line, being a line around the inner face of the 
stockade, or wall inclosing said prison, about 
twenty feet distant from and within said 
stockade, and having so established said 
dead-line, which was in many places an 
imaginary line, and in many other places 
marked by insecure and shifting strips of 
boards nailed upon the tops of small and 
insecure stakes or posts, he, the said Wirz, 
•instructed the prison guards stationed around 
the said stockade, to fire upon and kill any 
of the prisoners aforesaid who might touch, 
fall upon, pass over, or under, or across the 
said dead-line, pursuant to which said orders 
and instructions, maliciously and needlessly 
given by said Wirz, the said prison guard 
did fire upon and kill a large number of said 
risoners, to wit: the number of about three 
undred. And the said Wirz, still pursuing 
his cruel purpose, did keep and use ferocious 
and blood-thirsty beasts, dangerous to human 
life, called blood-hounds, to hunt down pris¬ 
oners of war aforesaid, who made their escape 
from his custody, and did then and there 
wilfully and maliciously suffer, incite, and 
encourage the said beasts to seize, tear, 
mangle, and maim the bodies and limbs of 
said fugitive prisoners of war, which the said 
beasts, incited as aforesaid, then and there 
did, whereby a large number of said prisoners 
of war, who, during the time aforesaid, made 
their escape and were recaptured, and were 
by the said beasts then and there cruelly and 
inhumanly injured, insomuch that many of 
said prisoners, to wit: the number of about 
fifty, died. And the said Wirz, still pursu¬ 
ing his wicked purpose, and still aiding in 
carrying out said conspiracy, did use, and 



THE TRIAL. 31 


cause to be used for the pretended purpose 
of vaccination, impure and poisonous vaccine 
matter, which said impure and poisonous 
matter was then and there, by the direction 
and order of said Wirz, maliciously, cruelly, 
and wickedly deposited in the arms of many 
of said prisoners, by reason of which large 
numbers of them, to wit: one hundred, lost 
their arms; and many of them, to wit: about 
the number of two hundred, were so injured 
that they soon thereafter died. All of which 
the said Henry Wirz well knew and malici¬ 
ously intended, and in aid of the then exist¬ 
ing rebellion against the United States, with 
the view to assist in weakening and impairing 
the armi* of the United States, and in 
furtherance of the said conspiracy, and with 
the full knowledge, consent, and connivance 
of his conspirators aforesaid, the said Wirz 
then and there did. 

Charge Second.— Murder, in violation of 
the laws and customs of war. 

Specification 1—In this, that the said Henry 
Wirz, an officer in the military service of the 
so-called Confederate States of America, at 
Andersonville, in the State of Georgia, on or 
about the 8th day of July, A.D. 1864, -then and 
there being commandant of a prison there 
located, by the authority of said so-called 
Confederate States, for the confinement oi 
prisoners of war taken and held as such from 
the armies of the United States of America, 
while acting as said commandant, feloniously, 
wilfully, and of his malice aforethought, did 
make an assault; and he, the said Henry 
Wirz, a certain pistol, called a revolver, then 
and there loaded and charged with gunpowder 
and bullets, which said pistol the said Henry 
Wirz in his hand then and there' had and 
held, to, against, and upon a soldier belong¬ 
ing to the army of the United States, in his 
(the said Henry Wirz’s) custody as a prisoner 
.of war, whose name is unknown, then and 
there feloniously and of his malice afore¬ 
thought, did shoot and discharge, inflicting 
upon the body of the soldier aforesaid a 
mortal wound with the pistol aforesaid, in 
consequence of which said mortal, wound, 
murderously inflicted by the said Henry Y^irz, 
the said soldier thereafter died. 

Specification 2—In this, that the said Henry 
Wirz, an officer in the military service of the 
so-called Confederate States of America, at 
Andersonville, in the State of Georgia, on or 
about the 20th day of September, A. D. 1864, 
then and there being commandant of a prison 
there located, by the authority of the said 
so-called Confederate States, for the confine¬ 
ment of prisoners of .war taken and held as 
such from the armies of the United States of 
America, virile acting as said commandant, 
feloniously, wilfully, and of his malice afore¬ 
thought, did jump upon, stamp, kick, bruise, 
and otherwise injure, with the heels of his 
boots, a soldier belonging to the army of the 
United States, in his (the said Henry Wirz’s) 
custody as a prisoner of war, whose name is 
unknown; of which said stamping, kicking 


and bruising, maliciously done and inflicted 
by the said Wirz, he, the said soldier, soon 
thereafter died. 

Specification 3—In this, that the said 
Henry Wirz, an officer in the military ser¬ 
vice of the so-called Confederate States of 
America, at Andersonville, in the State of 
Georgia, on or about the 13th day of June, 
A. D. 1864, then and there being command¬ 
ant of a prison there located by the authority 
6f the so-called Confederate States for tha 
confinement of prisoners of war, taken and 
held as such from the armies of the United 
States of America, while acting as said com¬ 
mandant, feloniously and of his malice afore- 
.thought, did make an assault; and he, the 
said Henry Wirz, a certain pistol, called a 
revolver, then and there loaded, and charged 
with gunpowder and bullets, which said pis¬ 
tol the said Henry Wirz in his hand then and 
there had and held, to, against and upon a 
soldier belonging to the army of the United 
States, in his (the said Henry Wirz’s) Custody 
as a prisoner of war, whose name is unknown, 
then and there feloniously, and of his malica 
aforethought, did shoot and discharge, inflict¬ 
ing upon the body of the soldier aforesaid a 
mortal wound with the pistol aforesaid, in 
consequence of which said mortal wound, 
murderously inflicted by the said Henry 
Wirz, the said soldier thereafter died. 

Specification 4—In this, that the said Henry 
Wirz, an officer in the military service of the 
so-called Confederate States of America, at 
Andersonville, in the State of Georgia, on or 
about the 30th day of May, A. D. 1864, then 
and there being commandant of a prison there 
located by the authority of the said so-called 
Confederate States for the confinement of 
prisoners of war, taken and held as such from 
the armies of the United States of America, 
while acting as said commandant, feloniously 
and of his malice aforethought, did make an 
assault; and the. said Henry Wirz, a certain 
pistol called a revolver, then and there loaded 
and charged with gunpowder and bullets, 
which said pistol the said Henry Wirz in his 
hand then and there had and held, to, against 
and upon a soldier belonging to the army of 
the United States in his (the said Henry 
Wirz’s custody) as a prisoner of war, whose 
name is unknown, then and there feloniously, 
and of his malice aforethought, did shoot and 
discharge, inflicting upon the body of the 
soldier aforesaid a mortal wound with the 
pistol aforesaid, in consequence of which said 
mortal wound, murderously inflicted by the 
said Henry Wirz, the said soldier thereafter 
died. 

Specification 5—In this, that the said Henry 
Wirz v an officer in the military service of the 
so-called Confederate States of America, at 
Andersonville, in the State of Georgia, on or 
about the 20th day of August, A. D. 1864, 
there and then being commandant of a prison 
there located by the authority of the said so- 
called Confederate States for the confinement 
of nrisoners of war, taken and held as such 




THE TRIAL 


$2 

from the armies of the United States of 
America, while acting as said commandant, 
felonionsly and of his malice aforethought, 
did confine and hind with an instrument of 
torture called “ the stocks,” a soldier belong¬ 
ing to the army of the United States in the 
said Henry Wirz’s custody as a prisoner of 
war, whose name is unknown, in consequence 
of which said cruel treatment maliciously and 
murderously inflicted as aforesaid, he the said 
soldier soon thereafter died. 

Specification 6—In this, that the said Henry 
Wirz, an officer in the military service of the 
so-called Confederate States of America, at 
Andersonville, in the State of Georgia, on or 
about the 1st day of February, 1865, then and 
there being commandant of a prison there 
located by authority of the so-called Con¬ 
federate States for the confinement of prison¬ 
ers of war, taken and hd!d as such from the 
armies of the United States of America, while 
acting 4 as said commandant, feloniously and 
of his malice aforethought did confine and 
bind within an instrument of torture called 
** the stocks,” a soldier belonging to the army 
of the United States in his (the said Henry 
Wirz’s) custody as a prisoner of war, whose 
name is unknown, in consequence of which 
eaid cruel treatment, maliciously and mur¬ 
derously inflicted as aforesaid, he, the said 
toldier, soon thereafter died. 

Specification 7—In this, that the said Henry 
Wirz, an officer in the military service of the 
*o-called Confederate States of America, at 
Andersonville, in the State of Georgia, on or 
about the 20th day of July, A. D. 1864, then 
and there being commandant of a prison 
there located by the authority of the said so- 
called Confederate States for the confinement 
of prisoners of war taken and held as such 
from the armies of the United States of 
America, while acting as said commandant, 

• feloniously and of his malice aforethought, 
did fasten and chain together several persons, 
■oldiers belonging to the army of the United 
States in his (the said Henry Wirz’s) custody 
as prisoners of war, whose names are un¬ 
known, binding the necks and feet of said 
1 prisoners closely together, and compelling 
them to carry great burdens, to wit: large 
iron balls chained to their feet, so that in con¬ 
sequence of the said cruel treatment inflicted 
upon them by the said Henry Wirz, as afore- 
*aid, one of said soldiers, a prisoner of war as 
aforesaid, whose name is unknown, died. 

Specifications —In this, that the said Henry 
Wirz, an officer in the military service of the 
ao-called Confederate States of America, at. 
Andersonville, in the State of Georgia, on or 
about the 15th day of May, A. D. 1864, then 
and there being a commandant of a prison 
there located by the authority of the said so- 
called Confederate States, for the confine¬ 
ment of prisoners of war, taken and held as 
euch from the armies of the United Stales 
«f America, while acting as said command¬ 
ant, feloniously, wilfully, and of his malice 
aforethought, did order a rebel soldier, whose 


name is unknown, then on duty as a sentinel 
or guard to the prison of which said Henry 
Wirz was commandant as aforesaid, to firts 
upon a soldier belonging to the army of the 
United States in his (the said Henry Wirz’s) 
custody as a prisoner of war, whose name is 
unknown, and in pursuance of said order, so 
as aforesaid, maliciously and murderously 
given as aforesaid, he, the said rebel soldies, 
did, with a musket, loaded with gunpowder 
and bullet, then and there fire at the said 
soldier so as aforesaid, held as a prisoner of 
war, inflicting upon him a mortal wound with 
the musket aforesaid, of which the said pris¬ 
oner soon thereafter died. 

Specification 9—In this, that the said Henry 
Wirz. an officer in the military service of thi 
so-called Confederate States of America, at 
Andersonvile, in the State of Georgia, on or 
about the first day of July, A. D. 1864, then 
and there being commandant of a prison therfc 
located by the authority of the said so-called 
Confederate States for the confinement of 
prisoners of war, taken and held as such from 
the armies of the United States of America, 
while acting as said commandant, feloniously 
and of nis malice and forethought, did order 
a rebel soldier, whose name is unknown, then 
on duty as a sentinel or guard to the prison 
of which said Wirz was commandant as afore¬ 
said, to fire upon a soldier belonging to th® 
army of the United States, in his (the said 
Henry Wirz’s) custody as a prisoner of war, 
whose name is unknown; and in pursuance 
of said order, so as aforesaid maliciously and 
murderously given as aforesaid, he, the said 
rebel soldier, did with a musket loaded with 
gunpowder and bullet, then and there fire at 
the said soldier, so as aforesaid held as a pris¬ 
oner of war, inflicting upon him a mortal 
wound with the said musket, of which he, 
the said prisoner, soon thereafter died. 

Specification 10—In this, that the said 
Henry Wirz, an officer in the military service 
of the so-called Confederate States of Amer¬ 
ica, at Andersonville, in the State of Georgiy, 
on or about the 20th day of August,- A. H. 
1864, then and there being commandant of 
a prison there located, in the authority of 
the said so-called Confederate States for the 
confinement of prisoners of war, taken and 
held as such from the armies of the United 
States of America, while acting as said con*- 
mandant, feloniously and of his malice afore¬ 
thought, did order a rebel soldier, whose 
name is unknown, then on duty as a sentinel 
or guard to the prison, of which said Wira 
was commandant as aforesaid* to fire upon a 
soldier belonging to th# army of the United 
States, in his (thq,said Henry Wira’s) custody 
as a prisoner of war, whose name is'unknowii, 
and in pursuance of said order, so as aforesaid 
maliciously and murderously given, as afore¬ 
said, he, the said rebel soldier, with a mu&* 
ket loaded with gunpowder and bullet, then 
and there fired at the said soldier, so as afore¬ 
said held a prisoner of war, inflicting upon 
him a mortal wound, with the said musket, 



THE TRIAL. 


33 


of which he, the said prisoner, soon thereafter 
died. 

Specification 11—In this, that the. said 
Henry Wirz, an officer in the military service 
of the so-called Confederate States of Amer¬ 
ica, at Andersonville, in the State of Georgia, 
on or about the 1st day of July, A. D. 1864, 
then and there being commandant of a prison 
there located by authority of the said 80- 
ealled Confederate States, for the confine¬ 
ment of prisoners of war, taken and held as 
such from the armies of the United States 
of America, while acting as said commandant, 
feloniously, and of his malice aforethought, 
did cause, incite and urge certain ferocious 
and bloodthirsty animals, called bloodhounds, 
to pursue, attack, wound, and tear in pieces, 
a soldier belonging to the army of the United 
States, in his, (the said Henry Wirz’s) custody 
as a prisoner of war, whose name is unknown, 
and in conseque'nce thereof the said blood¬ 
hounds did then and there, with the know¬ 
ledge, encouragement and instigation of him, 
the said Wirz, maliciously and murderously 
given by him, attack and mortally wound the* 
said soldier, in consequence of which said 
mortal wound, he, the said prisoner, soon 
thereafter died. 

Specification 12:—In this, that the said 
Henry Wirz, an officer in the military ser¬ 
vice of the so-called Confederate States of 
America, at Andersonville, in the State of 
Georgia, on or about the 27th day of July, 
A. I). 1864; then and there being command¬ 
ant of a prison there located by the authority 
of the said so-called Confederate. States, for 
the confinement of prisoners of war, taken 
aifd held as such from the armies of the 
United States of America, while acting as 
said commandant feloniously and of his mal¬ 
ice aforethought, did order a rebel soldier, 
whose name is unknown, then on duty as a 
sentinel or guard to the prison of which said 
Wirz was commandant aforesaid, to fire upon 
a soldier belonging to the army of the United 
States, in his (the said Henry Wirz’s) custody 
as a prisoner of war, whose name is unknown, 
and in pursuance of said order, so as afore¬ 
said maliciously and murderously given as 
aforesaid, he the said rebel soldier, did, with 
a musket loaded with gunpowder and bullet, 
then and there fire at the said soldier so as 
aforesaid held as a prisoner of war, inflicting 
upon hfin a mortal wound with the said mus¬ 
ket, of which si*id mortal wound he, the said 
prisoner, soon thereafter died. 

Specification 13—In this, that the said 
Henry Wirz, an officer in the military service 
of the so-called Confederate States of Amer¬ 
ica, at Andersonville, in the State of Georgia, 
en or about the third day of August, A. D. 
1864, then and there being commandant of a 
prison there located by the authority of the 
said so-called Confederate States for the con¬ 
finement of prisoners of war, taken and held 
as such from the armies of the United States 
of America,while acting as said commandant, 
feloniously and of his malice 'aforethought, 


did make an assault upon a soldier belonging 
to the army of the United States, in his (the 
said Henry Wirz’s) custody as a prisoner of 
war, whose name is unknown, and with a 
pistol called a revolver, then and there hold 
in the hands of the ^aid Wirz, did beat and 
bruise said soldier upon the head, shoulders 
and breast, inflicting'thereby mortal wounds, 
from which beating and bruising aforesaid, 
and the mortal wounds caused thereby, the 
said soldier soon thereafter died. 

N. P. Chipman, 

Colonel and A. A. D. C. f Judge Advocate . 

Colonel Chipman asked the prisoner, What 
answer have you to make ? 

Judge Hughes replied, that the charges 
were delivered to the prisoner only yesterday 
afternoon, and were not seen by his counsel, 
namely, Messrs. Hughes, Denver, Peck, and 
Louis Schade, until this’ morning. He sub¬ 
mitted the question whether a reasonable 
time should not be given to the prisoner to 
prepare for .defence or not. What made an 
extension of time still more important, was 
that three or four weeks ago a totally differ¬ 
ent set of charges were served to those who 
proposed to defend him, and on which prepa¬ 
rations to that end alone had been made. 

The charges just read were different in 
substance and form, and certainly twenty-four 
hours’ notice was not sufficient to consider 
them. 

Colonel Chipman felt it to be his duty to 
state that the charges served two or three 
weeks ago embraced precisely the substance, 
but not the form of those just preferred. 
The only addition is the charge of conspiracy, 
which includes the acts heretofore alleged. 
Therefore the counsel should be prepared to 
meet them. There should be no unreason¬ 
able delay. We had subpoenaed a number of 
witnesses from the South, and one hundred 
witnesses for the Government were now in 
attendance. 

Judge Hughes replied that the counsel 
designated no time. They asked no undue 
or unnecessary indulgence, but wished to 
facilitate the business of the Commission. 
As to the substance of the charges to which 
the prisoner pleads not guilty, they were dif¬ 
ferent from those heretofore prepared. One 
set called upon him to defend his own life 
only, but the other just read to this Court 
required him not only to defend his own life, 
but that of General Lee, and half a dozen 
others. 

Colonel Chipman desired the gentleman to 
indicate for whom he appeared. 

Judge Hughes replied: “We appear for 
the prisoner now on trial. The Judge-Advo¬ 
cate was ho doubt aware that when the proof 
of a conspiracy is once made out, the prisoner 
is responsible for the acts of all engaged in 
it.” 

Colonel Chipman desired the entry to be 
made that these gentlemen appear only for 
the prisoner, and it should be understood 





THE TRIAL. 


34 

whether, without authority, they should de¬ 
fend anybody else. 

Judge Hughes :—We only desire to defend- 
Captain Wirz. We may object to the form 
of the charges, the first of which is a conspir¬ 
acy, and not only a Conspiracy but actual 
crimes under it. The other charge is murder, 
with thirteen specifications. If these specifi¬ 
cations of murder come under the civil law, 
then we propose that this Court cannot take 
jurisdiction, but if they come under military 
law this Court might take jurisdiction. I 
wish to submit to the Court that they lay 
down some rule by which they are to be gov¬ 
erned during this trial. This is an order 
emanating from the President of the United 
States, appointing a Military Commission, 
not to try a particular case, but any case that 
may be brought before it, and it does not ap¬ 
pear that this case has been sent here. The 
one statute gives Military Courts jurisdiction 
over civilians in cases where persons are 
found lurking about as spies. No jurisdiction 
is conferred in cases of conspiracy. The 
prisoner is charged with treasonable conspir¬ 
acy and murder. Then do we know that it 
was the intention of the President to send 
such a case here ? We have no evidence that. 
the charges emanated from any other source 
than the Judge-Advocate of this Court. 

Judge Chipman said that while not design¬ 
ing to answer the fallacy of Judge Hughes, 
he would merely remark that the practice 
has been to try any case properly coming 
before the Court. The order reads, “ for the 
trial of such prisoners as may be brought 
before the Court.” All the books lay down 
the rule that the Judge-Advocate shall pre¬ 
pare the cases for adjudication. Several 
cases have already been decided ; the point is 
not a new one. The case is not required to 
be. formally prepared to be sent to the Court. 
The Court is constituted for the trial of such 
prisoners as may be brought before it; and 
the prisoner is here to be tried. 

The Court with closed doors, decided to 
overrule the plea of the counsel for the ac¬ 
cused. 

Judge Hughes, in order, as he said, to facil¬ 
itate proceedings, filed several pleas. First. 
Denying the jurisdiction of the Court to try 
the prisoner, it having no authority to do so 
either by statute or well established usage. 
Second. That this case is not brought before 
it by competent authority. Third. That 
the prisoner is a naturalized citizen, and was 
never in the land or naval service of the Uni¬ 
ted States, now being at peace, and civil war 
ceased, there is no authority to punish him. 
The prisoner protests he ought not, therefore, 
to be tried, but discharged from custody. He 
also claims that ju’st before the time' of his 
arrest at Andersonville, Captain Noyes, on 
duty near that place, applied to him for in¬ 
formation, which he cheerfully communicated 
to him, and he accompanied Captain Noyes 
to General AVilson’s quarters, the former 
promising him safe conduct, and giving him 


assurance ’ that he should not be arrested 
The prisoner relied on the good faith of Cap. 
tain Noyes but, notwithstanding the above 
repeated assurances, the prisoner was seized, 
held in confinement, and brought to Wash, 
ington. The prisoner further protests that] 
he ought not to be held any longer, for tlie 
reason as set forth at length, that he came; 
within the terms of the capitulation between' 
General Johnston and General Sherman. 
The defendant also asks the Court to quash 
the several charges and specifications, because j 
they are each and every one uncertain andi 
indefinite as to the time and the offence; and, 
the allegations are so indefinite and vaguaj 
that he ought not to be tried upon them;! 
and further, that they do not charge him with! 
any offense punishable under the laws of war., 

Mr. Denver inquired what rules were to 
govern, whether the rules of court-martial or 
some other rules. 

General Wallace, the President of the 
Court, replied that the Court would serve the 
counsel with a copy of the rules relative to 
the argument and the motions. 

The Court adjourned till the next day. 

TUESDAY,- AUGUST 22d. 

When the motion to quash the charges! 
and specifications against Captain Wirz,! 
made by the defendant’s counsel, was argued, 
principally by Judge Hughes, who contended 
that they were too general and uncertain, 
and that the offences charged were cognizable 
by civil, and not military courts— 

The Commission overruled the motion, 
and the prisoner then pleaded “Not guilty” 
to the charges against him. 

Colonel Chipman, the Judge-Advocate, to¬ 
day suggested that the prisoner be remanded 
to the Old Capitol, and that the Court now 
adjourn. 

In this the Court, without a formal vote, 
acquiesced. • 

Judge Hughes wished to know to what 
time the Court had adjourned. 

Colonel Chipman replied that he would 
notify counsel of the reassembling of the 
Court, and then requested the witnesses ^n 
attendance to give information as to where 
they resided, and instructed them not to 
leave the city until properly discharged. 

Judge Hughes said he wanted likewise to 
be heard. 

Colonel Chipman replied; that under the 
parliamentary law there could now be no 
debate. 

Major-General Wallace said: “The Court 
stands adjourned, consequently there can be 
no argument.” 

Judge HughesThe prisoner having been 
arraigned, we enter our protest against break- 
ing up the Court, or an indefinite adjourn¬ 
ment. We ask for the discharge of the 
prisoner, or that the Court proceed with the 
trial. 

Major-General Wallace repeated that the 
Court had adjourned. 





THE TRIAL, 


35 


During this colloquy, the prisoner was 
removed from the court-room by the military 
guard. 

The adjournment, without a day having 
been named for the reassembling of the 
Court, took the counsel and spectators by 
surprise. 

ON WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23d. 

The Court reassembled at eleven o’clock., 

Judge-Hughes, of counsel for the accused, 
said that as the prisoner should be brought 
into Court, he would submit a motion. 

Major-General Wallace remarked: Time 
enough will be given for that purpose.” 

J udge Hughes:—“ I will present it at the 
earliest moment. 

The prisoner was, at this stage of the pro- 
| ceedings, brought into Court in custody of a 
; military guard. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman called the roll 
of members, all ,of whom answered to their 
' names. 

He then read an order from the War 
Department, dated the 22d of August, in 
substance that the Military Commission, 
which was to convene on the 20th instant, is, 
by order of the President of the United 
States, dissolved; and then read another 
order, dated yesterday, convening a Special 
Commission, to assemble to-day, at eleven 
o’clock, for the trial of Henry Wirz, and such 
other prisoners as may be 'brought before it, 
the detail of officers being the same as that 
of the previous commission. 

Major A. A. Hosmer has, on application 
of Colonel Chipman to the proper .authority, 
been appointed assistant Judge-Advocate, 

Judge-Advocate Chipman asked the pris¬ 
oner whether he had any objection to the 
members of the Court. 

Mr. Peck, of counsel, said that there was 
none, personally, to the members. 

The members, judge-advocates, and the 
official reporters were then sworn, promising, 
in addition to an impartial performance of 
duty, that they would not improperly disclose 
the secret proceedings and sentence of the 
Court. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman, addressing the 
prisoner: You are charged under the name 
of Henry Wirz. Is that your name ? 
i- The prisoner said it was. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman:—The charges 
and specifications will now be read. 

Major-General Wallace, the President of 
the Court:—Let the prisoner stand up. 

Captain Wirz rose to his feet, when the 
charges and specifications were read. 

They are substantially the same as those 
upon which he was arraigned on Monday. 

He is first charged with maliciously, wil¬ 
fully, and traitorously, and in aid of the then- 
existing armed rebellion against the United 
vSiates of America, on or before the first day 
of March, A. I). 1864, and on divers other 
days between that day and the 10th day of 
April, 1865, combining, confederating, and 


conspiring, together with John H. Winder, 
Richard B. Winder, Joseph White, W. S. 
Winder, R. R. Stevenson, and others unknown, 
to injure the health and destroy the lives of 
soldiers in the military service of the United 
States, then held and being prisoners of war 
within the lines of the so-called Confederate 
States, and in the military prisons thereof, to 
the end that the armies of the United States 
might be weakened and impaired, in viola¬ 
tion of the laws and customs of war. 

The above differs from the former charge 
in this, namely: that the names of Robert E. 
Lee, James E. Seddon, and Lucius D. Nor¬ 
throp are now omitted. 

The other charge is that of murder, pro¬ 
duced by heartless, brutal, and cruel treatment. 

The specifications are fourteen in number. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman asked the pris¬ 
oner what answer he had to make to the 
charges. 

The prisoner gave no reply. 

Judge Hughes, of counsel, said that these 
new charges and specifications, or the fact 
that any amendments or changes had been 
made in those heretofore presented, reached 
him now for the first time. The counsel had 
received an official note this morning from 
the Judge-Advocate, which he would read, 
accompanied by a copy, as he supposed, of 
these charges. This note was received at 
eight o’clock, or a little sooner, this morning, 
addressed to the firm of which he was a 
member, viz.: Hughes, Denver & Peck, 
dated august 23d, 1865. 

The note from Judge-Advocate Chipman 
is in substance briefly as follows : 

“ I inclose a copy of the charges and speci¬ 
fications, with such changes as may be pre¬ 
sented to-morrow. It is proper to say now 
what could not be said sooner, vi?.: the 
Court will assemble to-morrow at eleven 
o’clock, in the Court of Claims room, and I 
will proceed without further delay with the 
case. The objections mad§ by you will in 
part be removed by the orders of to-morrow. 
There remain but two points raised by you 
to be settled: 

“1st, As to the, jurisdiction of the Court, 
and, 2d, as to the immunity of Captain Wirz, 
claimed under the arrangement with Captain 
Noyes, and the capitulation as concluded 
between Johnston and Sherman, 

“These, I hope, will be disposed of to¬ 
morrow, or as soon as we get into the evi¬ 
dence.” 

Judge Hughes said the note was not dated 
yesterday, but to-day, this being the 23d. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman said the note 
was written yesterday, but was wrongly 
dated in the hurry. 

Judge Hughes remarked that he saw, by a 
morning paper only, that the Court was to 
meet to-day, and it was mere accident that 
he came here. Tne authorities were ample 
that the prisoner should have time to plead 
and prepare for defence, and to consult 
counsel, and, on the prisoner’s behalf, he 






36 


THE TttI 1L, 


asked the Commission to give him sufficient 
time. The prisoner, without any fault of 
his, would now be under the necessity of 
employing new counsel, as he (Judge Hughes) 
was inclined to think that he had rendered 
all the professional service required by his 
obligations. It was necessary for him to 
give the reasons for withdrawing from the 
case, *but this ought not to prevent the 
Court from determining the question of 
giving further time. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman did not object 
to his note being read as an official paper. 
He placed the amendments of the charges in 
the hands of the counsel as soon as possible. 
The note was written at dark, and sent by an 
old and faithful orderly, and delivered at the 
office, which he supposed the' gentlemen 
occupied during the day; but they may have 
been out at the time. He had nothing to 
say against a proper adjournment to enable 
the prisoner to prepare for defence. He 
should certainly part from the gentlemen 
with regret, yet he did not feel that either 
himself or the Court ought to be intimidated 
by the threats of counsel. If there was anu 
hard grievance, he supposed the Court would 
proceed properly and legally. He proposed 
to curtail no right, or cut off any privilege 
to which counsel are entitled. He left the 
question of postponement to the Court. 

Judge Hughes remarked that this was a 
new Court, just brought into being. The 
Court would not subject the prisoner to the 
disadvantages of the reorganization of the 
Court, and deny him the benefits which 
might result from it. This Court knew 
nothing of the other or former charges. If 
he had said any thing calculated to intimi¬ 
date the Court, as intimated by the Judge- 
Advocate, he was not aware of it. Even had 
he been so disposed he would have had an 
admonition in the countenances of the officer? 
composing the Court, and in the past conduct 
of these gentlemen, that it would be labor 
lost; they had been in the smoke of battle. 
Perhaps he wotild make a similar remark 
applicable to his friend, the Judge-Advocate, 
if he was aware that the latter had ever been 
in battle; but he had not heard of it. 

Mr. Peck, one of the counsel for the defence, 
suggested to the Court that the recent action 
would bring up an entirely new class of 
defence, and would necessarily take up more 
time. 

Judge Hughes here tooK up his hat, and, 
placing a pile of law-books under his arm, 
walked out of the court-room. 

Mr. Peck, resuming, .said, as the prisoner 
had once been arraigned, and his life placed 
in jeapordy, he was entitled now either to an 
acquittal or trial on the former charges. He 
believed that all the authorities, civil and 
military, were conclusive on the point that, 
if not acquitted, the prisoner, under the 
circumstances, was entitled to all the benefits 
of an acquittal. 

The President of the Court inquired of 


Mr. Peck whether he was still here in the 
relation of counsel. 

Mr. Peck replied that he was not. 

The President said the Judge-Advocate 
was here as.the counsel of the defendant, the 
gentleman and his associates having with¬ 
drawn. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman said, as the re¬ 
sponsibility now attached to him of appearing; 
for the prisoner, he asked an’ adjournment 
until to-morrow. He was not unmindful of 
the rights of the prisoner. He regretted the 
retiring of the counsel. Judge Hughes had 
left on record the remark that he made no 
allusion to him as a soldier, not being aware 
that he had been in battle. In reply to that 
he merely referred to the official record on 
file in the War Department. 

The Commission adjourned until twelve 
o’clock to-morrow noon. 

THURSDAY'S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, August 24.—The Wirz Com¬ 
mission met at noon to-day. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman asked the pris¬ 
oner if he had counsel. 

Louis Schade, Esq., begged permission to 
make a personal explanation. He said ha 
had been engaged as counsel with Messrs. 
Hughes, Denver & Peck. Those gentlemen 
had the case in hand three or four weeks, but 
he w T as not so fortunate; having been called 
in at a late hour, they had withdrawn and 
left him all alone. Why they had abandoned 
the case was well known to the gentlemen of 
the Court. 

Major-General Wallace replied the Court 
did not know, nor was it necessary they should 
know the reason. 

Mr. Schade, resuming, said he would have 
followed them if it had not been that he had 
a regard for his honor; but being an adopted 
citizen, like the prisoner, he never would for¬ 
sake one so helpless, especially as he believed, 
from the testimony in his possession, that the 
defendant was innocent; he at the same time 
was fully convinced of his inability to alone 
compote with the array of talent on the other 
side. He fully appreciated the momentous¬ 
ness of the issue at stake, and the high re¬ 
sponsibility which rested upon him. He for 
the reason just stated respectfully asked the 
Court for a postponement of the trial for 
about eight days, so that the prisoner might 
procure additional counsel, and the latter 
have opportunity and time enough to exam¬ 
ine into the facts of the case,'believing as he 
did, that justice and right are the chief ingre¬ 
dients of American liberty, and that under 
the Government, and under the present en¬ 
lightened statesman who now controlled the 
destinies of the nation, no citizen, no matter 
how humble, should be deprived of the right 
of a fair and impartial trial. The present 
excitement will soon pass away, and if we do 
a harsh thing now, history, the great and 
impartial judge, will so.on punish us for the 
wrong 





THE TRIAL. 37 


Judge-Advocate Chipman said the Court 
were aware that the gentleman who had just 
addressed them was associated with- the retir¬ 
ing counsel for some time. It could not, 
therefore, be properly or safely presumed 
that he was uninformed of the proceedings 
and facts in this case; the Cpurt were bound 
to believe that he'was prepared, and to go on 
with the trial. He (Colonel Chipman) thought 
that the Court should.come to an issue to-day, 
and that the prisoner should be called upon 
to plead. He did not ask that the prisoner 
be urged to a hasty trial, but counsel was 
fully informed of the theory of the prosecu¬ 
tion, and as to what would be brought out in 
proof against the prisoner; he would not 
argue the motion, as it presented itself to the 
discretion of the Court. 

Mr. Schade appealed to the generosity of 
the Court for a postponement. They would 
appreciate his position, and the responsibility 
resting upon him. 

The Court, by a vote, decided against the 
motion, and that the prisoner should at once 
plead. 

/ 0. S. Baker, Esq., who was in the court¬ 
room, volunteered his services as assistant 
counsel for the defence. ^ 

Mr. Schade then presented several pleas— 
First. That the prisoner is entitled to his dis¬ 
charge, in consequence of the promise of 
Captain Noyes, of the staff of Brevet Major- 
General Wilson, in command at Macon, 
Georgia, that if he (Wirz) Would accompany 
him to head-quarters for the purpose of giv¬ 
ing certain information, he should not be 
arrested, or held a prisoner. The accused 
accepted the offer, and claims to have since 
been held in violation of the pledge of his 
personal liberty. 

Second. The prisoner denies the jurisdiction 
:>f the Court to try him on these charges, and 
specifications. 

Third. That the war is ended and civil law 
restored, and that there is no military law 
ander which he can be tried. 

Fourth. He moves to quash the charges 
md specifications upon the ground of their 
vagueness and indefiniteness concerning the 
dme, place and manner of the offences charged. 

Fifth. That on the 21st of August, 1865, 
ae was arraigned and put on trial. On his 
alea of not guiltyi-o these charges before a 
Vlilitary Commission composed like this, that 
,he Commission was broken up without his 
igency or consent, and adjourned without a 
•ecord. Having been once put in jeopardy 
>n these charges, the prisoner claims that he 
;annot now be arraigned again as before, but 
s entitled to the benefit of an acquittal. 

Sixth. He.claims that he should be dis¬ 
charged because he was an officer of the so- 
called Southern Confederacy, and entitled to 
/he benefit of the terms agreed to between 
Generals Sherman and Johnston, which were 
complied with by him, and in accordance with 
vhich he is ready to give his obligation in 


writing not to take up arms against the Gov¬ 
ernment. 

Mr. Schade said they were not disposed to 
discuss these pleas now, but wished them to 
go over to the final argument. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman desired that the 
gentlemen, if they had anything to say, should 
do so now ; there was but one plea (the ques¬ 
tion of jurisdiction) which could properly go 
over; the others constitute a plea in bar, and 
should be decided before the Court could hear 
the case. It was proper that they should 
argue all at this time* except the plea of ju¬ 
risdiction. 

Mr. Schade said that if the Commission 
insisted on the argument before proceeding 
further with the trial, he must ask for an ad¬ 
journment till to-morrow, so as to afford the 
counsel, Mr. Baker, who had just come in, an 
opportunity to examine the case.. 

Mr. Baker said that it was but a few mo¬ 
ments since he had anything to do with the 
case. The Court would readily see that he 
would have no information as to the pleas 
put in, or the charges against the prisoner; 
he had not even read the charges; he was 
almost inclined to consent to go on, in view 
of the changes and delay that had already 
taken place, but he could not think he would 
be doing his duty to the prisoner if he should 
attempt to argue the pleas that he had not 
read; this was a grave offence charged; it 
might cost the prisoner his life, and after the 
sudden termination of his case yesterday, and 
he might say some result, they ought not to 
go on without affording the time to counsel; 
if, however, the Court decided it not to be 
proper to adjourn over one day, he would 
proceed to argue the case to the best of his 
ability. 

The Judge-Advocate remarked that the 
leading counsel was present at the previous 
arraignments, and must be familiar with the 
case. • 

Mr. Baker, resuming, said the principal 
plea to be discussed was the motion to quash 
the proceedings, in consequence of the vague¬ 
ness and indefiniteness of the charges and 
specifications. The Court, however, was not 
going to discharge the prisoner on a techni¬ 
cality, nor would it convict him on such, and 
with the Court’s consent he would let the ar¬ 
gument of the case go over until the close of 
the testimony. 

The Judge-Advocate insisted that the de¬ 
fence should close up the plea now. 

Mr. Schade said he would waive argument, 
and join issue at once on the simple plea of 
not guilty. 

Mr. Baker said he was also ready to put in 
the plea of not guilty alone, if the Court would 
let the argument on the pleas go over, and 
thus not waste time. 

The Judge-Advocate stated that he would 
enter a demurrer to the pleas interposed, with 
the exception of the plea of jurisdiction. 

The President, General Wallace, asked the 



THE TRIAL. 


58 

Judge-Advocate if he cotild not reach the 
pleas by a motion as well as a demurrer. 

The Judge-Advocate answered yes. 

President—A demurrer is not known in 
Courts of this character ; it is not intended 
to introduce the formalities of civil courts. 

The Judge-Advoeate accepted the sugges¬ 
tion and moved that the pleas, with* the ex¬ 
ception of that of jurisdiction, be overruled. 

Mr. Baker hoped that if the Court passed 
at all on the pleas it would do so without 
arguments written or oral by the Judge-Ad¬ 
vocate, as the counsel rwould be as unable to 
answer them in so short a time as they were 
to argue the pleas. 

The Judge-Advocate said after making that 
motion he supposed he had the right to men¬ 
tion his reasons, so that he might be placed 
properly on the record. A vote was then 
taken by the Court resulting in permission 
for the Judges-Advocate to proceed with his 
arguments on the motion to overrule. 

The Judge-Advocate said that aside from 
the custom of jurisdiction there remained 
really but four questions:—First, a motion 
to quash the charges and specifications for 
vagueness and indefiniteness ; as this ques- 
tion had already been decided by the Court 
on a previons occasion he would not make 
any remarks upon the subject. Second, that 
the Court, constituted of the same members, 
having taken cognizance of the case, and the 
prisoner having been once arraigned and his 
life put iii jeopardy, therefore the Court 
could not now proceed to try the prisoner. 

In reply to this, Colonel Chipman said he 
would only read an official opinion from Judge 
Holt, the chief of the bureau of military jus¬ 
tice, who is the law expounder so far as the 
army is concerned, and all cases arising under 
it. This opinion is in substance that a party 
who has been arraigned should not be regard¬ 
ed as having been tried until the Government 
has pursued the case to a conclusion, and he 
has been actually acquitted or convicted, and 
the judgment of the court thereon announced. 
There must be a formal acquittal or convic¬ 
tion. 

h The next question raised by the counsel 
for the defendant was, that the prisoner 
should not be held to trial, but ought to be 
cnscharged, because Captain Noyes, an officer 
of the staff of General Wilson, had promised 
Captain Wirz that if he should give certain 
information, which he did, to General Wilson, 
he should have safe conduct, going and re¬ 
turning, to his home, and the final question 
was, that the agreement between Generals 
Johnston and Sherman absolved the prisoner 
from the consequence of the violation of the 
laws of war. 

In support of his motion that the pleas 
were insufficient, and should be overruled, 
Colonel Chipman read an argument which 
he had reduced to writing. If, he argued, 
there was a violation of a compact between a 
staff officer and Wirz, the latter’s remedy 
was against General Wilson, and not before 


this Court. If, after the defendant was 
brought to General Wilson, it was discovered 
that Wirz was guilty of great crimes, he 
would have been answerable to his superior 
for letting him off. General Wilson had no 
power to absolve the prisoner from crime. 
A promise of safeguard did not work a par¬ 
don of offence. The plea presents the case 
of a police officer, who says, “ Come with me 
to the magistrate; I will see that you are 
not injured.” 

The magistrate, discovering that the man 
is guilty of a crime, takes means for the trial 
of the prisoner. It was not alleged that Cap¬ 
tain N oyes acted on the instructions even of 
General Wilson. The cases were similar, 
therefore. The plea should be overruled. 
The Court must bear in mind that the plea 
in bar does not assume that there has in this 
case been a formal acquittal or conviction. 
There now remains only one plea based on 
pardon, according to Archibald’s and Whar¬ 
ton’s criminal law. The plea must set out in 
form the pardon granted. In the absence of 
this the plea of the counsel is, therefore, bad. 
It was very certain, by the action of the 
Government and the opinion of the Attorney- 
General, that Neither the amnesty proclama¬ 
tion of the President, nor the terms of sur¬ 
render between Generals Grant and Lee and 
Sherman and Johnston, were intended to 
pardon those who had been guilty of great 
crimes. 

The later proclamation of the President 
showed that these capitulations did not work 
pardon to those coming within their terms, 
else why did they see men who had been en¬ 
gaged in the rebellion every day besieging 
the President and asking pardon ? It would 
be recollected that a judge of the United 
States’ Court had charged the jury to inquire 
into offences under the rebellion, and in the 
criminal court of this district the attorney- 
general pronounced the rebellion still exist¬ 
ing. ' 

Suppose the assassin of the late President 
had been a rebel soldier, and after commit¬ 
ting the act had escaped and returned to 
Johnston’s army, was it supposed the terms 
of the capitulation would prevent the assassin 
from being brought to trial ? 

Mr. Baker, of counsel, supposed that ac¬ 
cording to the universal custom of law pro¬ 
ceedings they were required to say something 
in answer to their adversaries. 

In the first place the prisoner wa 3 ar 
humble servant, in the employment anc 
under orders of an officer of the so-callet 
Southern Confederacy; distasteful as it mighi 
be, we must look upon it as a fact that then 
was a civil war for four long and distressfu 
years. The prisoner, he repeated, was a Bervan 
and instrument in the hands of the Southeri 
authorities ; as such he had charge of our pris 
oners. In defending the prisoner he must d< 
I his duty. The defendant, though criminally 
charged, was not convicted. He is charge< 
' with atrocious crimes which may never b< 




4 






‘S 











































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































i 


THE TRIAL. 


proven to*be facts. It would be a most inhu- 
man thing to take it for granted at the 
threshold that he is guilty. 

The charges are merely on paper, and it 
was the duty of the Court to investigate and 
see whether they are true; it was alleged that 
he as an individual starved the Union pris¬ 
oners ; his counsel deny that he did it at all, 
hut he was there; the Union prisoners were 
•tarvea; »u*ne come away, and some never 
returned ; would any member of this Court 
say that any lieutenant or major-general in 
the Union army should be held accountable 
to any tribunal for every Outrage and inde¬ 
cency, for every murder under the laws of 
war, perhaps unknown to them, perhaps, as 
he had seen it, under their very eyes. 

In some instances they might, but not for 
idl the atrocities. The charge against the 
prisoner is that he committed these acts. If 
one half of what is alleged against the pris¬ 
oner should De proven true, he should suffer 
to the full extent of the law. The prisoner 
was invited to come within the Union lines, 
and was promised ho should have safe conduct 
to depart. What justification could there 
be for a violation of the usages of civilized 
warfare. Where would they find the pledge 
of a commanding officer violated. 

The Judge-Advocate had said a command¬ 
ing general can volate or set aside his orders,^ 
but if any commanding general well deserving 
of his stars should invite an hmnble servant 
to come within his lines, and should then 
violate his promise of safe conduct, and hold 
him a prisoner, and try him for murder, would 
it. not be one of the most atrocious violations 
of the rules of war and of good faith ? Where 
did the Judge-Advocate get his authority? 
Certainly not in the books or'under the au¬ 
thority of the United States. 

This was one of the points of the defence. 
The prisoner was held wrongfully: The counsel 
would say this with respect. This prisoner 
was enticed within our lines, and the pledge 
given to him of safe conduct broken. There 
might be an excuse for the officer breaking 
his pledge, but this should inure to the 
benefit of the accused. The learned Advocate 
compared the bringing of the prisoner, under 
promise he shall not be harmed, into our 
lines, to a constable enticing a party before a 
magistrate, who holds them for trial; most 
assuredly and certainly the gentleman did 
not design to bring this cause to such a low 
and degrading condition. But the difficulty 
in- the first place, is that the magistrate has 
no right to make the promise, and no right 
to break it; in the second, a commanding 
general has the right to make the promise, 
and then, according to the law of God and 
man, he is required to respect it; as to the 
plea of the unconstitutionality of trying a 
man after once being put on his trial, he 
would not argue the point. 

He could not twice be put in jeopardy of 
his life. If the Court should concur in his 
2 


41 

pleas he should be gratified; if not he should 
be content to go on with the case. 

The Court was cleared for deliberation, 
and when the doors were re-opened it, was 
announced by the President that the Court 
overruled the pleas, except as to jurisdiction 
which is not yet argued. 

Mr. Baker—We plead the general issue not 
guilty of the charges and specifications. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman—The Govern¬ 
ment is now ready to go on with the case. 

The rules adopted by the Court were read, 
providing among other things that the hour 
of meeting shall bo ten a al, and at one 
o'clock a recess till two ; that the examination 
of witnesses shall be by one of the Judge- 
Ad/ocates and 5 one of the counsel for the 
prisoners ; arguments to occupy five minutes 
On each side. 

The Judge-Advocate said he would offer in 
evidence a letter dated Andersonville, Georgia, 
October 9, 1864, and signed by the accused. 

Martin E. Robinson having been sworn, 
testified that He is clerk to the Military Com¬ 
mission. The letter was shown to the witness ; 
this, he said, was the letter he exhibited to 
the prisoner at the Old Capitol last Sunday, 
the first time he ever saw nim; he asked the 
prisoner on that occasion whether that was 
the letter which he wrote to General Wilson ; 
the prisoner replied it was a copy, a true 
copy of the one which was sent. The Court 
overruled an objection made by Mr. Baker, 
when the letter was read, as follows: 

Andersonville, Ga., May 7, 1^65. 

General : It is with great reluctance that 
I address you these lines, being fully aware 
how little time is left you to attend to such 
matters as I now have the honor to lay before 
you, and if I could see any other way to ac¬ 
complish my object I would not intrude upon 
you. I am a native of Switzerland, and was 
before the war a citizen of Louisiana, by pro¬ 
fession a physician. Like hundreds and 
thousands of others, I was carried; away by 
the maelstrom of excitement, and joined the 
Southern army. I was very seriously wounded 
at the battle of the Seven Pines, near Rich 
mond, Virginia, and have nearly lost the use of 
my right arm, Unfit for field duty, I wds 
ordered to report to Brevet General John 
II. Winder, in charge of Federal prisoners of 
war, who ordered me to take charge of a 
prison in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 

My health failing me, I applied for a fur¬ 
lough and went to Europe, from whence I 
returned in Febuary, 1864; I was then ordered 
to report to the commandant of the military' 
prison at Andersonville, Georgia, who assigned 
me to the command of the interior of the 
prison; the duties I had to perform were 
arduous and unpleasant, and I am satisfied 
that no man can or will justly blame me for 
things that happened here, and which were 
beyond my power to control; I do not think 
that I ought to be held responsible for the 
shortness of rations, for the oveF-rcrowded 



THE TRIAL. 


f 


42 

state of the prison, which was in itself a 
prolific source of the fearful mortality, for 
the inadequate supplies of clothing, want of 
shelter, &., still I now bear the odium, and 
men who were prisoners here seem disposed 
to wreak their veangeance upon me for what 
they have suffered, who was only the medium, 
or I may better say the tool, in the hands of 
my superiors. This is my condition, I am a 
man with a family; I lost all my property 
when the Federal army besieged Vicksburg; 
1 have no money at present to go any place, 
and even if I had I know of no place where 
1 could go; my life is in danger, and I most 
respectfully ask of you help and relief. If you 
will be so generous as to give me some sort 
of a safe conduct, or what I should greatly 
prefer, a guard to protect myself and family 
against violence, I shall be thankful to you, 
and you may rest assured that your protection 
will not be given to one w r ho is unworthy of 
it. My intention is to return with my family 
to Europe as soon as I can make arrangements. 
In the meantime, I have the honor, General, 
to .remain, very respectfully, your obedient 
servant. H. Y. Wirz,. Captain C. S. A. 

Major-General J. H. Wilson, United 
States Army Commanding Macon , Georgia. 

The witness was cross-examined by Mr. 
Baker. He was sent to the prison to serve a 
copy of the charges and specifications; wa& 
clerk to the Commission; he took the letter 1 
to Captain Wirz to ascertain whether it 
was a copy or the original; Colonel Chipman 
gave it to him for that purpose; the prisoner 
did not read all of it, only a portion; he 
sketched or skipped over it; he did not read 
it aloud; could not swear that he read a 
single word, but to the best of his knowledge 
he thought the prisoner did, but he could 
not swear positively. 

Captain H. E. Noyes sworn—I am captain 
and adjutant to General Wilson; have seen 
the letter before at General Wilson’s head¬ 
quarters ; an officer was sent for to Ander- 
sonville, and brought this paper to General 
Wilson; the indorsement bears the signature 
of that officer. 

Cross-examined by Mr. Baker—I was at 
the Lanier House, in Macon, when I saw the 
letter; it was handed to me to read by Gen¬ 
eral Wilson’s adjutant-general; I returned 
it; this was about the first’ of May; I won’t 
be certain; I again saw the letter within a 
week or two; it was delivered to me by Gen¬ 
eral Wilson’s adjutant-general; I put it 
into my pocket and brought it to Washing- 
ton; I gave it to General Townsend, the as¬ 
sistant adjutant-general of the army; I 
never saw it again until yesterday; I do not 
know whether it is in Captain Wirz’s hand¬ 
writing. 

G. C. Gibbs, having been sworn, said he 
had been in the army of what was the Con¬ 
federate States Government; he resided at 
Andersonville, and was on duty there as the 
commandant of the post of Camp Sumter ; 
an order was shown to him, which he recog¬ 


nized as the original one, assigning him to 
duty; it is dated October 9th, 1864, and 
signed by General John H. Winder; the 
witness also identified a pass in the hand¬ 
writing of Captain Wirz, who was the com¬ 
mander of the prison at Andersonville; the 
witness had no control over the prison; 
Wirz had control exclusively of him; Wirz 
was in command of the prison when ho 
went there; in the absence of the witness 
sometimes Wirz commanded the post; ho 
did not know whether the prisoner granted 
furloughs or not; the witness visited the 
prison before he was assigned to the post, 
about the middle of August last; he saw 
that the prisoners were very much crowded ; 
did not go into, but could see the interior of 
the stockade from the battery; he never saw 
so many men together in the same space in 
his life ; it was more like an ant-hill than any¬ 
thing else; the surgeons of the prison hospi¬ 
tal received their orders from Captain Wirz, 
and he had seen those issued to them; the 
only instance of punishment he witnessed 
was of a man who failed^o report the escape 
of a prisoner; the man was put in the stocks 
a little while, until the surgeon interfered; 
a dead line was established ; he did not know 
whether Wirz had any thing to do with its 
construction; the object of the dead line was 
to keep prisoners from approachiug the stock¬ 
ade; the stockade was built of hewed timber, 
projecting from the ground ten or eleven feet, 
and inclosed sixteen or seventeen acres of 
land; a stream ran near the centre of it; the 
stockade was surrounded by several batteries ; 
there were guns on only two of the four sides; 
it was built as well for the security of pris¬ 
oners as to defend the place ; there were twelve 
pounder howitzers and six pounder guns, and 
perhaps some rifle pieces ; there was an outer 
stockade, and ways leading from battery to 
battery; the witness walked into the prison 
very often; the prisoners at the time were 
comparatively few, six or seven thousand— 
they were bad off for clothing and shelter; 
the accused told him that twelve or thirteen 
thousand prisoners had died there some time 
in the spring ; Wirz was in command of the 
prison about one year; thirty-three thousand 
prisoners subsequently were confined there; 
witness knew General J. H. Winder, who was at 
Andersonville several months, probably in Oc¬ 
tober, 1864 ; he commanded the military pris¬ 
ons east of the Mississippi river; Winder 
and Wirz were both at Andersonville to¬ 
gether ; shortly after the witness went there 
Winder left; the witness knew Richard B. 
Winder, who was a quartermaster at one time. 
a quartermaster on duty at Andersonville; 
he found on duty there in October, \864, 
Captain Lawson, who was captain and 
quartermaster; the witness knew Joseph 
White; he was a surgeon at Andersonville; 
W. S. Winder was a captain, and his father** 
assistant adjutant, and was also on duty at 
Andersonville, but left there; R. R. Stevenson, 
after White left, was the surgeon at that 




THE TRIAL. 


43 


place; he was there till the senior surgeon 
came in; the two Captain Winders located 
the Andersonville prison probably about the 
commencement of November or December, 
1863; dogs were kept at the prison, intended 
for the tracking of escaped prisoners ; they 
were subsisted on food furnished by the com¬ 
missary ; they were mustered in the same as 
horses ; a man named Dunn had them in 
charge ; the witness did not know what has 
become of him; he saw the instruments called 
the stocks; the prisoner never told him the 
use of them; Wirz told him, however, of the 
ball and chain, and he had heard the prisoner 
at the bar speak of the chain gang, and that 
there had been such an one. 

Cross-examined by Mr. Baker—The wit¬ 
ness said that he thought he went to Ander¬ 
sonville on the 10th or 12th of Oqtoberlast, and 
remained there until the 19th ot the ensuing 
April; Wirz was there all that time, excepting 
one or two'days. The witness was Wirz’s 
superior in rank. In many respects Wirz 
was under his command, but so far as the 
prison was concerned he was not; he knew 
there was food enough to feed all; the rations 
served to the troops and the prisoners were 
equal; he could not tell exactly what the 
ration was; he did not remember then his 
own ration; the ration, however, included 
meat, corn meal, peas (you call them beans), 
molasses and flour; the ration ought not to 
have varied; the requisition was made daily; 
witness did not know of any change in the, 
rations; if the quality of the ration was un¬ 
sound a board of survey could have been sum¬ 
moned to condemn it. 

General Wallace Baid it was • understood 
that the witness now on the stand was for 
the defendant. 

Mr. Baker—If so, we dismiss him. 

Judge-Advocate Chipjnan—This witness 
was subpoenaed by the defendant. 

Mr. Baker—But was not put on the stand 
by the defendant. When we come to cross- 
examine the witness, we are not to be told 
he is to be considered our witness. It is 
arbitrary, and contrary to the books. We 
are not to be switched pff and told the witness 
is ours. Do you not know—to the witness— 
that Captain Wirz complained to the board 
on account of bad food ? 

Judge-Advocate Chipman objected. 

The Court, after deliberation with closed 
doors, sustained the objection. 

Major-General Wallace remarked the un¬ 
derstanding of the Court was that when the 
question was asked as to the ..ration the 
counsel for the defendant adopted the witness 
as their own, but for that understanding the 
Court would not have permitted the interrog¬ 
atory to be made. 

Mr. Baker—Then we strike out all ques¬ 
tions asked since. 

Major-General Wallace—You can’t strike 
out any thing in a military court. 

Mr. Baker—We can’t allow ourselves to 
be entrapped. 


Major-General Wallace—Your language 
is not of the most respectful kind. If there 
is any “ trapping” it is not on the part of the 
Colirt. I am of the opinion it is a mistake 
of the counsel for the defence. 

Mr. Baker—In my mind I can conceive 
how the Judge-Advpcate would make use of 
it. 

The cross-examination was resumed by Mr. 
Baker. 

The witness said the dead line was estab 
lished previous to his going to Andersonville 
he did not know of Captain Wirz shooting 
any one at the dead line, nor did he know 
of Wirz giving an order to execute any one; 
the dogs spoken of as an adjunct to the prison 
were the ordinary farm or plantation dogs, 
not bloodhounds ; perhaps not more than six 
or seven of them; they were kept about the 
eighth of a mile from the prison; he believed 
they were part and parcel of the prison dis¬ 
cipline; he did not know by whose orders 
they were kept; Turner had charge of them, 
and was acting under the orders of Wirz. He 
never knew of Wirz using them himself; 
Turner was a detailed soldier ; the dogs were 
little, middle-sized, and big; he did not know 
whether they were ferocious. The witness 
was further cross-examined. 

Dr. John C. Bates testified substantially 
as follows :—I have resided four or five years 
in Georgia; I have been a practitioner of 
medicine since 1860 ; I was an acting assistant 
surgeon, called a contract surgeon, at Ander¬ 
sonville prison; reported for duty there on 
the 22d of September, 1864, and left there 
on the 26th of March. (The witness frere 
was shown and identified a pass given’ lay 
Captain Wirz, October 17th, 1864, to Assis¬ 
tant Surgeon Bates,) I was ordered to report 
to J. H. White, the surgeon in charge, but, 
as he heard, was injured by a railroad acci¬ 
dent; I reported to R. R. Stevenson; on 
going into Ward 15 of the hospital, I saw 
a number of men, and was rather shocked; 
many of them w r ere lying partially naked, 
dirty, and lousy, in the sand; others were 
crowded together in small tents, the latter 
unserviceable at the best; I examined all 
who were placed in my charge ; on a further 
investigation of matters, to make myself ac¬ 
quainted with the mode of doing business, 
the disagreeable impression at first made on 
me more or less wore off, as I was .becoming 
familiar with the effects of misery; I inquired 
into the rations and talked about them ; I felt 
disposed to do my duty and aid all the suffer¬ 
ers I could ;. they frequently asked me for a 
teaspoonful of salt, or for orders for a little, 
sifting that came out of meal, as they wanted 
to make some bread; if I found something 
better than siftings I ordered it; I spent con¬ 
siderable of my time in writing orders; the 
meat ration was cooked at a different part 
of the hospital; the men would gather around 
me and ask for a bone; clothing we had none ; 
the living were supplied with the clothing of 
those who had died • of vermin or lice there 




THE TRIAL. 


44 

was a prolific crop; I understood the term 
lousy from personal experience j on returning 
from the hospital I examined myself; it was 
impossible for a surgeon to leave there with¬ 
out bringing some with him; as to medical 
attendance, I found the men destitute of 
clothing and bedding ; of fuel there was only 
a partial supply; as officer of the day, shortly 
after I arrived there I was in supreme com¬ 
mand, and it was my business to rectify any 
thing wrong; I found the men as a general: 
tiling, destitute, partly naked, slpk and dis¬ 
eased ; their disposition only was to get some¬ 
thing to eat; they asked me for orders for 
potatoes, biscuits, siftings of meal, and other 
things; on the following morning I sat down 
and made a report on the condition of things 
I found at the hospital; the report was sent 
up ; being a novice, for some oftM things I 
said I received a written reprimand signed by 
Dr. Dillard for Dr. R. R. Stevenson ; medicines 
being scarce, I drew on indigenous remedies, 
and gathered up large quantities of what 
were the best attainable anti-scorbutics, as 
well as to soothe the alimentary canal, and 
to cure gangrenous complaints; I think the' 
reports was not heeded ; my attention was 
called to a patient in my ward who was only 
fifteen or sixteen years old; I took much 
interest in him, owing to his youth ; he would 
ask me to bring him a potatoe, bread, or 
biscuit, which I did; I put them into my 
pocket; he had the scurvy and gangrene ; I 
advised him not to cook the potatoe, but to' 
eat it raw; he became more and more ema¬ 
ciated ; his sores gangrened, and for want 
of^food and from lice he died; I understood 
that it was Against the orders to take any 
thing in to the prisoners, and hence I was 
shy in slipping food into my pockets; others 
in the wards'came to their death from the 
same causes; when I went there there were 
two thousand or twenty-five hundred sick ; 1: 
judge twenty or twenty-five thousand prison¬ 
ers were - crowded together ; some had made 
holes and burrows in the earth; those under 
the sheds were doing comparatively well; I 
saw but little shelter excepting what ingenuity 
had devised; I found them suffering with 
scurvy, dropsy, diarrhoea, gangrene, pneu¬ 
monia and other diseases ; when prisoners died 
they were laid in wagons head foremost to be 
carried off; I don’t know how they were 
buried ; the effluvia from the hospital was very 
offensive; if by accident my hand were abra¬ 
ded I would not go into the hospital without 
putting a plaster over the affected part; if 
persons whose systepis were reduced by inan¬ 
ition should perchance stump a toe or scratch 
the hand, the next report to me was gangrene, 
so potent was the regular hospital gangrene; 
the prisoners were more thickly confined in 
the stockade, like ants and bees ; the dogs 
referred to were to hunt the prisoners who 
escaped; fifty per cent, of those who died 
might have been saved; I feel safe in saying 
seventy-five per cent, might have been saved 
if the patients bad been properly cared for. 


The effect of the treatment of prisoners was 
morally as well as physically injurious. 
There was much stealing among them. All 
lived each for himself. I suppose this was 
superinduced by their starving condition; 
seeing the starving condition of some of them, 
I remarked to my student I cannot resuscitate 
them, the weather is chilling, it is a matter of 
impossibility; I found persons lying dead 
sometimes among the living; thinking they 
merely slept, I went to wake mem up, but found 
they had taken their everlasting sleep ; this was 
in the hospital; I judge it jVas about the same 
in the stockade ; there being no dead-house, I 
erected a tent for that purpose, but I soon found 
that a blanket or quilt had been clipped off 
of the canvass, and as the material could 
not readily he supplied for repairs, the dead- 
house had be abandoned; I don’t think 
any more dead-houses were erected; the daily 
ration was less in September, October, Novem¬ 
ber, and December, than it w r as from the 
1st of January to the 26th of March; the 
men had not over twenty ounces of food for 
twenty-four hours. 

Without concluding the examination, the 
Court, at five o’clock, adjourned till to-morrow 
morning at ten o’clock. 


FRIDAY’S EVIDENCE 

Washington, Aug. 25.-r-The conrt-room 
was crowded with spectators, including many 
ladies. 

Captain Wirz was brought in at a few 
minutes to eleven o’clock. 

The record of yesterday having been read 
at length, the examination of Dr. John C. 
Bates was resumed. Speaking of the Ander- 
sonville prison, he said the scurvy there was 
next to rottenness ; some of the patients could 
not eat because there was no mastication; 
their teeth were loose;, they frequently asked 
him to give them soihething to eat which 
would not cause pain; while Dr. Stevenson was 
medical director, he t did not manifest much 
interest in the relief of their necessities ; 
the rations were less than twenty ounces in 
twenty-four hours ; he did not know but What 
a man would starve to death on it, especially 
if the food was of few articles and monot¬ 
onous ; sometimes the meat was good, and 
sometimes it was bad; in consequence of the 
paucity and unwholesomeness of the rations 
some of the men starved to death; the ampu¬ 
tation and reamputation, owing to gangrenous 
wounds, were numerous; there was plenty of 
wood in the neighborhood, which might have 
been cut to answer all demands; there was on 
one occasion an altercation between Dr. James 
and Captain Wirz ; on goinginto the hospital 
Dr. James learned that his chief clerk had 
been arrested and ordered to the buck and 
gag; the clerk was bucked, and was sent out¬ 
side the gate; on inquiry Dr. James found 
that the clerk had neglected to report a man 
who was missing; Dr. James wrote a letter 




THE TRIAL. 


45 


speaking of Wirz’s tyranny, and the clerk 
Btill continued to' be punished. 

A sketch in pencil, drawn by one of the 
inmates of the prison, was. here exhibited to 
the-witness, who said:—Here was Dr. Bates 
(No. 1) examining the beef; here is Dr. Bates 
(No. 2) giving meat bones to the cripples ; it 
was his prerogative as officer of the day to 
supervise the cooking ; when rations were to 
be issued he would frequently go to the place ; 
sometimes twenty or a hundred would sur¬ 
round him imploring for bones; he was 
represented as distributing bones ; that was 
of frequent occurrence; the sketch was accu¬ 
rate as far as it went; there ought to be 
twenty or forty figures in the space where 
one only appeared ; the men sketched hobbled 
along on crutches ; others crawled on the 
ground with tin cups in their mouths, because 
they could carry these articles in no other 
way ; they wanted to mash up the bones to 
procure their contents for food. 

Mr. Baker remarked that Dr. Bates looked 
much better bn the witness stand than he did 
in the sketch. 

The witness thanked the gentleman for the 
compliment. 

The Judge-Advocate proposed to offer in 
evidence, a morning report of the surgeon 
acting as officer of the day, and asked the 
witness to examine the handwriting. 

Mr. Baker objected, saying the prisoner was 
charged with conspiracy and murder. If the 
defendant had conspired with other parties 
these must be before the Court. No Court 
could put in testimony in relation to other 
parties and try them in their absence. What¬ 
ever is put in must bear on the person before 
the Court. He asked whether the Court 
could try persons not before it. The evidence 
sought to be introduced was not strictly 
applicable to the defendant. There was noth¬ 
ing to connect Captain Wirz with this morn¬ 
ing report, and with the surgeon in charge. 

The Judge-Advocate supposed the gentle¬ 
man was perfectly aware that parties to a 
conspiracy could be tried singly. To save 
time he would recommend to the counsel 
u Russell on Crime ” and “ Starkie on Evi¬ 
dence.” 

Hr. Baker replied that these authorities 
showed that where conspirators were to be 
tried the Court might, on application of 
counsel, elect to separate and try the parties 
separately, but in this case the alleged con¬ 
spirators have never been before the Court to 
ask for a separation. They were not even in 
custody. They were at large. It was not 
Known that they ever would be tried. In a 
civil Court he could ask that the charges be 
quashed. 

The Court decided to admit the paper, 
which was read, as follows :— 

First Division—C. S. M. P. Hospital, Sept. 
5, 1864.—Sir:—As officer of the day for the 
past twenty-four hours I have inspected the 
hospital, and found it in as good condition as 
the nature of the circumstances will allow. 


A majority of the bunks are still unsupplied 
with bedding, while in a portion of the di¬ 
vision the tents are entirely destitute of either 
bunks, .bedding or straw, the patients being 
compelled to lie upon the bare ground. I 
would earnestly call your attention to the 
article of diet; the corn bread received from 
the bakers, being made up without sifting is 
wholly unfit for the use of the sick, and often, 
as in the last twenty-four hours, upon exam¬ 
ination, the inner portion is found to be per¬ 
fectly raw. The iqeat and beef received by the 
patients does not amount to over two ounces 
a day, and for the last three or four days no 
flour has been issued. The corn bread can¬ 
not be eaten by many, for to do so would be 
to increase the diseases of the bowels, from 
which a large majority are suffering, and it is 
therefore thrown away. All their rations 
received by way of 'sustenance is two ounces 
of boiled beef and half a pint of rice soup per 
day. Under these circumstances all the skill 
that can be brought to bear upon their cases 
by the medical officer will avail nothing. 

Another point to which I feel it my duty 
to call your attention is the deficiency of 
medicines. We have but little more than in- 
digeneous barks and roots with which to treat 
the numerous forms of disease to which our 
attention is daily called. For the treatment 
of wounds, Ulcers, &c, we have literally noth¬ 
ing except water in our wards. Some, of 
them are filled with gangrene, and we are 
compelled to fold our arms and look quietly 
upon its ravages, not even having stimulants 
to support the system under its depressing 
influence—this article being so limited in sup¬ 
ply that it can only be issued for cases under 
the knife. I would respectfully call your 
earnest attention to the above facts, in the hope 
that something may be done to alleviate the 
sufferings of the sick. I am sir, very respect¬ 
fully, your obedient servant, 

(Signed) J. Drews Pelot, 

Ass’t Surgeon 0. A. C. S., and Officer of 
the Day. 

To Surgeon E. D. Elland, in Charge First 
Division C. S. M. P. Hospital. 

AFTERNOON SESSION.. 

The Court, at one o’clock, took a recess 
till two o’clock, when the direct testimony of 
Dr. Bates was concluded. 

Cross-examined by Mr. Baker—Is a resident 
of Louisville, Jefferson county, Georgia, and 
was there when the war broke out; up to 
June, 1864, remained at home as a practicing 
physician, being in consequence of his pro¬ 
fession, exempted from service in the Confed¬ 
erate army ; he had had no sympathy or wish 
to go into it; he did not vote or do any thing 
else to bring on the war; he accounted himself 
a Union man ; seeing that Governor Brown 
was resolved to bring all males between four¬ 
teen and sixty years into the State militia, he 
became a contract surgeon, to keep nut of the 
State trenches; hqtook an oath to tiie-confeder 
acy ; it was forced upon him at the point of the 



THE TRIAL. 


46 


bayonet, and being under duress at the time, he 
did not consider it was now binding upon him. 

Requisitions were made on Dr. Clayton 
for hospital supplies, and not on Captain 
Wirz; neyer heard any blame attached to 
the prisoner about the badness of rations, nor 
his name mentioned in that connection; 
Captain Wirz had always treated the witness j 
kindly, and he never saw him use any harsh 
means on anybody; the Confederate soldiers 
had several wells on the outside of the prison ; 
the witness did not think they were supplied 
With water from the same source that the 
Union prisoners were, the latter drawing 
their supplies from tjie stream running 
through the prison; he judged the stream of 
itself was not unhealthy, but the lower part 
of it might have been from the drainage o i, 
the camps; Andersonville was merely a rail¬ 
road station until the war commenced, when 
military shanties were put up. The witness 
was asked if he had any opinion that there 
was a conspiracy there to cause the death of 
Union prisoners. 

The Judge-Advocate objected to the ques¬ 
tion. It mignt as well be asked whether the 
witness believed the prisoner guilty. It was 
of no consequence. 

Mr. Baker replied that the question was of 
sufficient importance to cause an objection 
from the learned gentleman. 

The Court decided not to sustain the 
objection. 

The witness was then asked whether he, 
knew of any persons who by their conduct 
conspired to murder or otherwise cause the 
death of Union prisoners ? He replied he 
had never been so impressed. He had always 
objected to the insufficiency and character of 
the rations. The shortness of the allowance 
was owing to its having been furnished by the 
Southern Confederacy; further supplies could 
not be furnished except by going to the 
country, and none of the officers had the 
right to go foraging. The surgeons always 
did the best they could, and frequently com¬ 
plained to the surgeon-general about the 
insufficiency of means furnished. 

By the Court—Supplies were received from 
the North from the Sanitary Commission, 
and he saw some of the prisoners wearing 
the clothes which had been furnished. 

Dr. A. W. Barrows sworn—He testifed that 
he had served as a physician to the twenty- 
seventh Massachusetts; was taken prisoner 
at Plymouth, and finally found his way to 
Andersonville, -where he was paroled by 
Captain Wirz, and -placed in charge of two 
wards of the hospital; he remained there six 
months, till the 9th of October, when he 
made his escape, since which time he had 
practiced medicine at home; when he*went 
to Andersonville there were six or seven 
hundred patients lying on the ground ; they 
were partially naked; some had broken limbs 
and gangrene, scurvy and chronic diarrhoea ; 
nine-tenths of the patients Were lying on the 
ground, while the others had insufficient shel- 


'T 

ter; Captain Wirz would say, when an 
risQner escaped or attempted to escape, tha 

e would starve every-Yankee for sucl 

attempts; the prisoners were punished eithe j 
in the stocks or the chain-gang; the stock 
consisted of a frame work six feet high, wit! 
boards shut together with room for a man’; j 
neck ; men thus fastened could some of then 
stand on their feet, while others merely 
touched the ground with their toes ; tin 
chain-gang was sometimes composed of sb 
men, and sometimes eighteen; they were 
handcuffed, and chains passed around theii 
necks and legs, and ta those chains a thirty 
two pound ball was fastened; the gang wouk 
be held together one or two weeks' the mei 
meantime being exposed to the sun and rain, 
which had the effeot of weakening and re 
ducing them; he had no doubt of the fac 
that some died in consequence; another kinc 
of punishment was putting the feet in stocks 
the feet being elevated, and the other part ot 
the body on the ground; the witness nevei 
got from Dr. White what he asked for, ther< 
always being some evasive answers; anti 
scorbutics were much needed but not supplied 
he proposed, but the authorities refused t< 
allow the witness to take men and cut timber 
which could have been procured ten rods 
distant. Hounds were kept near thehospita 
to get the trail of escaping prisoners, who 
when caught, were brought back and put h 
the stocks. The witness knew of a case when 
a man under such circumstances was manglei 
in the face by one of the dogs, but recovered 
Another case came under his observation; i 
was in August or September, 1864, when i 
Union prisoner was wounded by one of th< 
hounds; he died indirectly from the bite, bu 
directly from the gangrene; he had seer 
Captain Wirz on horseback with hounds, bui 
Turner seemed to have direct charge of th( 
dogs; he had heard Wirz order Sergean 
Smith to start the hounds, as somebody hai 
got away ; sores as large as his hand bad re 
suited from vaccination; the matter used was 
poisonous, and many deaths and amputation* 
resulted; the ration when he went there was 
small, two ounces of bacon, a small potato 
corn bread, two and a half inches square ; nc 
coffee, tea, sugar and flour ; sometimes then 
was a little rice soup, a gallon of rice ii 
thirty gallons of water ; in July they got 
few vegetables, not a spoonful a day; tht 
morals of the prisoners were corrupted by th< 
cruel treatment.; men would steal from eacl 
other something to eat, and would worl 
among the filth even for potato parings o 
any thing else; a Union man in his wan 
was shot within the hospital by a Confederal 
soldier, and wounded in the thigh; the liml 
was amputated, and the man died next day 
when a raid was expected from General Kil 
patrick the witness heard Captain Wirz giv 
an order to fire upon the prisoners if the- 
huddled together. There were from thirty 
three to thirty-six thousand prisoners there a 
the time, and in the month of August, a 





THE TRIAL. 


47 


appeared from the official report, nearly three 
thousand died ; qn the removing of the prison¬ 
ers from Andersonville one of them fell back, 
when the witness saw Captain Wirz knock 
the man down and stamp upon him; this was 
in September, 1864 ; Wirz had a revolver in 
his hand, but the witness did not know that 
Wirz used it to knock the prisoner down. 

The Court, at quarter to four o’clock, 
adjourned till to-morrow. 

SATURDAY’S TESTIMONY. 

Washington, August 26.—The Wirz Com¬ 
mission assembled to-day. 

After the reading of the record of yesterday, 
Mr. A. W. Burrows having heretofore been 
sworn, identified a certain paper offered as in 
the handwriting of Josiah H. White. 

The Judge-Advocate accordingly moved to 
amend the first charge on which the prisoner 
is arraigned, by substituting the name of 
Josiah H. White for Joseph White, as one of 
the persons with whom the defendant is 
charged with conspiring to cause the death 
of Union prisoners. 

Mr. Baker objected to the motion to supply 
the misnomer. He argued that the prisoner 
was arraigned on these charges by order of 
the President, and that until the original 
authority should Supply the deficiency no 
further testimony could be received affecting 
Dr. White and the prisoner at the bar. 

The Court overruled the objection, when 
the error in the Christian name of Dr. White 
was corrected. 

Mr. Baker saidthe name of John H. Winder 
also appeared as one of the alleged conspira¬ 
tors. The fact was notorious that Winder is 
dead, and therefore this Commission was sit¬ 
ting here trying a man not in existence. He 
moved to strike out the name. 

The Judge-Advocate asked: Do you appear 
for Winder ? 

Mr. Baker—No. 

The Court*—Do you hold that Winder is on 

trial? / Y"T r >y • .'IT 

Mr. Baker replied—I hold that Winder, 
who is dead, cannot be tried for conspiracy. 

The Judge-Advocate—We have not been 
informed that Winder is dead. 

Mr. Baker—It is a notorious fact, of which 
the world has taken cognizance. 

The Judge-Advocate said that Booth was 
dead when the other conspirators were tried, 
yet in that ease the counsel jfor the defence 
made no objection to Booth’s name in the 
charges. 

Mr. Baker replied.—A military commission- 
could do many things not common for a civil 
court, but they could not try a dead man. 

The Court overruled the motion to strike 
out the name of John H. Winder. 

Dr. Burrows further testified that at An- 
dersonville prisoners were arrested for buying 
green corn, which the guard took away from 
them. Corn is an anti-scorbutic in cases of 
scurvy, and is a useful diet. The slops from 


the cook-houses were thrown into the stream 
which ran through the prison, the exhalations 
from which were horrible and very unhealthy. 
Besides, the sinks overflowed, owing to the 
raips, rendering the premises still more intol¬ 
erable. Human bodies sometimes lay uni 
buried for three days. The stench was terrible, 
sensibly affecting the atmosphere, and was 
worse than from any dissecting room. Com¬ 
plaints of these things were freguenfly made 
to headquarters; dead men were in the 
morning frequently found among the living. 
The largest number of deaths in the stockade 
for one day, in August, 1864, was two hun 
dred and seven. The witness found Captain 
Wirz in charge of the prison when he went 
there, and left him there at the time he made 
his escape. Rations were cut off from the 
entire number of the thirty thousand prison¬ 
ers for an entire day, owing to alleged of¬ 
fences of a few others. The witness re¬ 
membered that Wirz said to him he (Wirz) 
was of more service to the Confederate Gov- 
erment than any poor rebels in front. 

Cross-examined by Mr. Baker—Was a 
medical student at Amherst, Massachusetts, on 
the breaking out of the war, and had been li¬ 
censed since he was mustered out, on the 7th of 
December last; the witness had never seen our 
men in the army wearing a ball and chain, 
nor had he seen them punished in any other 
way than by detention in the guard-house; 
he had seen men in our hospitals affected "with 
syphilis, and none of the cases so bad as 
those at Andersonville ; our cases were pri¬ 
mary, while those in the rebel prison were 
secondary, as a general thing. The cross¬ 
questioning was further continued, to show 
that the rebel hospital was deficient of medi¬ 
cal remedies. 

The Court, at one o’clock, took a recess till 
two o’clock. 

It is proper to say that Mr. Baker did not 
voluntarily appear as counsel for the defence, 
as has been stated, but entered upon the du¬ 
ties'after consultation with Judge Hughes, 
who had just retired from the case. 

On the reassembling of the Court the cross- 
examination of Dr. Burrows was resumed. 
Lying in dirt, and owing to insufficient 
medicines and diet, the chances of recovery 
were against those who ho,d syphilis. The 
questions find answers were numerous on this 
point, involving the treatment of disease. 
Assistant Judge-Advocate Hosmer here said 
he did not see the relevancy of these questions. 
Mr. Baker replied, he had asked the witness 
with w r hat disease the patient suffered, and 
how the diseases manifested themselves after 
the patients were sent to the hospital, and 
whether syphilis was owing to the vaccine 
matter used upon them; he w’as cross-exam¬ 
ining the witness on this very point. 

The Courts—You don’t give the witness an 
opportunity to answer. You frequently put 
words into his mouth. 

Mr. Baker—I have a right to thus draw 
from him any information he has. 




48 


THE TRIAL. 


The Court—We are disposed to be very 
Jberal, but you must not suppose at the same 
time that we will not take exception as to the 
manner of examining witnesses. 

Mr. Baker—I will pursue the cross-examin¬ 
ation in th^ proper way. If I do not the 
Court will excuse me. 

The Court—The witness must answer in 
his own words. 

Mr. Baker—I must pursue the course laid 
down in the books, or must stop. 

The Court—Go on. 

The cross-examination was further contin¬ 
ued, when the Court interupted the counsel 
by saying, here is another lecture altogether 
unbecoming and uncalled for. 

Mr. Baker—I beg the Court's pardon. 

The Court—You beg pardon ? It is granted. 

Mr. Baker—I hope you will not hold me 
strictly to the rule. 

The Court—Say nothing more about that, 
but go on. 

The cross-examination was resumed and 
finished. 

The Court interrogated the witness, who 
said that the rebel force at Andersonville 
was between three and five thousand 1 ijpm; 
the fuel for them was cut by a large force of 
colored men ; there were axes enough to 
supply our men for a like purpose. .The wit¬ 
ness gave as his honest opinion that if there 
had been proper food, clothing, quarters, and 
other necessary supplies, from seventy-five to 
eighty per cent, of the deaths might have 
been prevented. In the dispensary he had 
seen supplies yrliich had come by the way of 
Richmond, such as dried beef, say two or 
three hundred pounds, and some Bologna 
sausages; he saw several boxes at the depot; 
nobody in his ward got any of the clothing; 
once or twice a little of the dried beef was 
brought in, but it did not afford each man in 
the ward half an ounce* The witness did not 
know who used the remainder of the beef 
and sausage. 

Robert II: Kellogg, sworn—Said he was 
captured at Plymouth, and with about four 
hundred others, taken prisoner to Anderson¬ 
ville ; this was on the 3d of May. 1864; the 
only other prisoners there at the time were 
those who had been brought from Belle Isle 
and Libby Prison, and other points; they 
were ragged and destitute of clothing ; many 
were nearly naked, and totally unprovided 
with shelter, except tattered blankets; the 
men were mere skeletons ; the prison appeared 
to be crowded, though thousands were brought 
there afterward ; the xuen were in a filthy 
condition; there was a poor opportunity to 
keep clean; there was very little soap; the 
men would get smoked over the pine fire 
while cooking, and for want of soap could not 
remove the stain ; plain water would not take 
it off; the nights were cool when he. first 
went there, but as the season advanced the 
weather became intensely hot; there were 
twenty-one rainy days in the month of June ; 
the prisoners were not supplied regularly or 


sufficiently with fuel; sometimes a squad 
would be allowed to go out and bring, in pirte 
roots to make a fire; sometiihes the rations 
furnished were ra-w, with no wood to cook 
them ; the penalty of trespassing on the dead 
line was death ; he remembered seeing a man 
who was shot for this cause by the sentinel; 
if any one crossed from the prison to the 
swamp he would be shot at; once he stepped 
to the brook to wash his hands, when the 
sentinel- fired at him; the piece missed of 
its object, and he got out of the reach of 
danger. 

Mr. Baker objected to a question asked by 
the Judge-Advocate, saying somebody was 
hurt, not killed, therefore somebody must be 
hung. The Court rebuked the qounsel, saying 
such remarks were excessively improper, and 
there was a remedy to prevent their repetition. 
The objection of counsel w r as not sustained by 
the Court, The witness said he did not ro- 
member -whether the man shot for drawing 
water out of the brook was killed that day. or 
not; the quality as well as the quantity of 
the ration was irregular, some days they got 
nothing at all, some days short allowance, and 
on others the full quantity, such as it was; 
thirty-two out of the squad of ninety men to 
which he w r as attached were unable to stand 
when ordered to fall in line by the sergeant;, 
their inability to do so, rose principally from 
scurvy and diarrhoea; their limbs were con¬ 
tracted, and therefore they could not keep 
their feet; the brook running through the 
prison was exceedingly filthy; the surface 
was covered with grease; he often went into 
it barefooted; nearly three hundred out of 
four hundred who accompanied him to An 
dersonville died a few days after they were 
paroled; the Twenty-fourth New York bat¬ 
tery, captured at Plymouth, were nearly an¬ 
nihilated at this prison. 

Commission adjourned till Monday 

SECOND WEEK OF THE TRIAL—MON¬ 
DAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, August 28,1865.—Thereasw 
assigned by those who ought to know, tbr 
the withdrawal of the names of Robert E 
Lee, and several others, from the charge 
of conpiracy with Wirz, is that these per 
sons are actually or constructively in the 
custody of the United States, though not on 
trial. * ' 

It was seen from the time Mr. Baker en¬ 
tered as counsel for Captain Wirz, that he 
would not long enjoy amicable relations with 
the Commission; and on repeated occasions 
Sharp words passed between them. To-day 
he with his associate Schade -withdrew. This 
is the second time within a week that Wirz’s 
counsel have deserted him. 

Wirz -was very much hurt at this, and im¬ 
ploringly said to Mr. Baker—“ You might stay 
to help me, and you should not mind even if 
the Court does sometimes overrule you.” In 
the absence of other counsel it now devolves 




THE TRIAL. 


49 


on Judge Advocate Chipman to see that he 
has fair play. 

The cross-examination of Robert H. Kel¬ 
logg was resumed by Mr. Baker. The witness 
said he entered the United States service on 
the 11th of March, 1862, and was discharged 
on the 1st of June, 1865. 

. Q. Were you at any ; other prison than An- 
dersonville ? A. I was at Charleston and 
Florence. 

Q. Was the treatment at those places ma¬ 
terially different from that at Andersonville. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman objected. 

Mr. Baker—I thought my question a little 
out of the way, but that no objection would 
be made. 

The Judge-Advocate—This manner of cross- 
examination will not be tolerated. If the 
counsel persists, I ask for the enforcement of 
the rule that he reduce his questions to 
Writing. 

Mr. Baker—The intention of my question 
was to show that the treatment of prisoners 
was equally good as that at the other prisons. 

Judge-Advocate—That is a part of your 
defence, but not proper in a cross-examina¬ 
tion. 

Mr. Baker—The indictment charges Captain 
Wirz with acting contrary to the laws and 
usages of war. This is the gist of the whole 
tiling. No matter how destitute the prisoners 
were, or how they suffered, if we show nothing 
was done contrary to the laws and usages of 
war, then this man cannot be punished, as we 
think. 

The Judge-Advocate—The question is im¬ 
proper. There is no evidence as to the treat¬ 
ment in other prisons. 

The Court sustained the objection. 

The cross-examination was resumed, and 
long continued, during which the witness said 
that unless men sent out to cut wood were 
strongly guarded they w r ould overpower the 
guard, and would have been fools if they had 
not attempted to make their escape. The 
proper guard for a squad of twenty men would 
lie an armed corporal and six men. He did 
not know, of his owrn knowledge, that Captain 
Wirz prevented men from going out to cut 
wood. He knew that the men dug one well 
with whatever they could get—such as half¬ 
canteens, and tin plates, and spoons. The 
water of the wells was fair; there was not 
room enough to dig all the wells which were 
needed; the space was required for the pris¬ 
oners. He never saw Captain Wirz order or 
take away from the prisoners any thing which 
contributed to their health and comfort. He 
thought the police regulations might have 
been better. On one occasion Captain Wirz 
did him a kindness—he had been in the woods 
and had left his knife there, and Captain Wirz 
was the means of his recovering it. He did 
not himself know, from his own observation, 
of any wilful or inhuman act by Captain 
Wirz. 

Thomas C. Alcock was sworn, and testified 
that he was captured and sent to Ajiderson- 


ville prison in some part of December, 1864. 
On arriving there he was searched by Captain 
Wirz, the prisoner, whom he now recognized 
at the bar, who took from him his belt, con¬ 
taining one hundred and fifty dollars in gold, 
two hundred and eighty dollars in greenbacks, 
a jack-knife, a breast-pin, and gold ring, and 
his pocket-book; these were never returned to 
him. On one occasion a weak man asked 
Captain Wirz to let him go out for some fresh 
air; Wirz asked what he meant, and turned 
round, pulled a revolver out of- his pocket, 
and shot him down; the man died two or 
three hours afterward; the witness spoke in 
condemnation of this act to Wirz, who said 
he would put him in the same place; the wit¬ 
ness replied he was net afraid of it; Wirz 
then called a corporal and two guard, who put 
upon him a ball and chain; he gradually, by 
working at the ball and chain, freed himself 
of the weight, and then made his escape ; the 
man that was shot was named Wright, and 
belonged to the eighth Missouri. The pris¬ 
oners would sometimes get water from tits 
stream or brook by attaching their vessels to 
the end of poles; while doing so they were 
often fired at with shell. 

Cross-examined by Mr. Baker—Q. Where 
did you get the one hundred and fifty dollars 
in gold? A. I captured it in Jackson, Mis¬ 
sissippi. 

Mr. Baker—And Captain Wirz captured 
it from you. Had not he a right to do so ? 

The Witness—No. [Laughter.] 

Mr. Baker—That is your opinion. 

The witness, on being further interrogated, 
said he found the gold at the root of a tree in 
the woods; a negro showed him where the 
money was ; he did not know to whom it be¬ 
longed. The witness was a native of and 
lived in Ohio, when he joined a regiment from 
that State. The man to whom lie had refer¬ 
red as having been killed by Captain Wirz, 
saluted the Captain in the usual way, and 
asked that he might go out of the crowd to 
get some fresh air; Captain Wirz asked ab¬ 
ruptly what he meant; the man murmured, 
when Wirz said, in 4 the “Dutch” language, 
“Look out!” the man was only a few paces 
from Captain Wirz, face to face, when Cap¬ 
tain Wirz drew his pistol and shot the man, 
who died soon afterward from the effects of 
the wound; the witness remained at the 
prison two months after the man was shot. 

Sergeant Boston Corbett testified that he 
was in the United States service: was cap¬ 
tured at Centreville, Virginia, and conveyed 
to Andersonville, where he arrived in July. 
Before he and his companion entered the 
stockade, having remained some time, they 
were divided into detachments; he was ex 
ceedingly thirsty, and asked a man near Cap- 
tain Wirz foy a drink of water; the man was 
one of our - own prisoners on his parole of 
honor for a different occupation, but could not 
give me the water. Another man was sick in 
the stockade, and asked the lieutenant of the 
squad whether he could not be sent to the 





50 


THE TBIAIi. 



Hospital; the officer informed him that noth¬ 
ing could be done till to-morrow, and that he 
must go into the stockade with the others. 
After he entered the stockade he found nine 
men of his company, who had been brought 
there three months previous ; within two 
months six of these men died; of fourteen 
men who were taken to Andersonville when 
he was, only two returned • alive; he was one 
of them. When he reached there he saw forts 
and guns; he noticed several men near the 
headquarters in chains with balls, exposed to 
the heat of the sun; he still bore the marks 
of the sun, by exposure, on his shoulders. 
He had seen the stocks, but did not remember 
seeing any person in them ; the dead-line was 
a slight wooden structure three or four feet 
high, running twelve or fifteen feet from the 
stockade; the place where the stream entered 
the stockade was broken down ; he had seen 
men shot and killed there. The prison was in 
a horrible condition of filth; the swamp on 
each side of the stream was so offensive, and 
the stench so great, that he wondered every 
man there did not die; he believed it was the 
cause of the death of many of our men; the 
maggots were a foot deep. The soldiers dug 
up roots ; they were dried in the sun, and used 
for fuel. The sick lingered around the swamp 
as soldiers lie down to rest after a march; 
going to that locality he would find dead men; 
the feet of others were swollen; gangrenous 
sores were without bandages ; the sores were 
filled with maggots and flies ; the men were 
unable to move, lying in their filth; they 
generally chose that position, and would pre¬ 
fer being near the sink. In one case a man, 
lie was certain, died from lice, which were as 
thick as the man’s garments. The food was 
insufficient, even when double rations were 
served for calling the roll or attending the 
sick. When the witness was sick within the 
stockade, no medicine was given to him ; they 
however gave him sour meat and water, and 
called it vinegar; our own men made a better 
article, which they called sour beer. The sick 
men were carried out at the south gate ; in 
some cases men would die while waiting to be 
carried out. In regard to removing tlie dead, 
four men were assigned to that duty, and in 
return they were allowed to bring in wood, 
which if they chose they could sell inside for 
a dollar; the men became so hardened that 
they would say, “ That’s right, sell off a dead 
man for wood 1” The water passing through 
the camp was filthy generally, and not good 
to drink; at times those who had wells gave 
him a drink ; at times they would not, and 
were so-rude that he would drink the stream- 
water rather than be abused. He had seen 
onions sold for twenty-five, fifty, and seventy- 
five cents each. The effect of this treatment 
was to demoralize the men; some became 
idiotic. The nearer the stockade the clearer 
was the water; some men would go over the 
dead line where it was broken without know¬ 
ing it, and had they not been warned would 
have been shot. Hounds were kept there to 


hunt and recapture those who attempted to 
escape. Prisoners were allowed to go out in 
certain numbers to collect wood ; the witness 
told his comrades that the first time he got 
out of the stockade he would try and escape; 
he made the attempt, and was hunted, but 
not immediately found; he lay concealed an 
hour or two, and heard the yelping of hounds 
in the distance—then nearer and nearer; they 
came so close as actually to rub his nose, and 
then made a circle around him until the hun¬ 
ters came up ; the hunter, or soldier, said the 
witness must go with him; the soldier said 
the old captain told him to make the dogs 
tear him, (the witness,) but having once been 
a prisoner himself, he felt for those who were 
in that condition; when witness was brought 
before Captain Wirz, the latter asked the sol¬ 
dier why he did not make the dogs tear him— 
when he replied, “ I guess the dogs hurt him 
enough;” Wirz then ordered the witness to 
be taken back to the stockade. 

The Court here took a recess until 2 o’clock. 
On re-assembling, the examination of witness 
was resumed, as follows : 

The scurvy was the general disease; some 
of the men would be obliged to crawl, and 
others to walk on crutches. He thought that 
in September or October last, a .large number 
of men, two or three hundred, were taken 
from the stockade to work outside on a build¬ 
ing said to be designed for a hospital; if the. 
same number of men had been employed in 
cutting wood, they might have built comforta¬ 
ble quarters; the men would have been glad 
of a chance to cut wood. The men being fed 
on insufficient food, and sorghum and mo¬ 
lasses, they took sick, and died in front of the 
building ; the number was large; they died in 
cords. 

The Court—What do you mean by cords ? 

Witness—I mean that if they had been 
piled up like wood, they would have made 
several cords. 

Cross-examined by Hr. Baker—The witness 
had seen maggots in the food, and had him¬ 
self washed them off in the stream; maggots, 
too, were in sores, and in such a way not fit to 
describe ; the swamp was filled with maggots, 
occasioned by the filth of the,men who could 
not reach the sink. One night, while the men 
were being removed to another prison, one of 
them fell down; the witness heard Captain 
Wirz swearing; being night lie Could not see 
the blow, but yet knew of the occurrence. 

The counsel, Mr. Baker, was several times 
interrupted by the Court, who objected to his 
mode of cross-examination; and he finally de¬ 
clined to continue the cross-examination. 

L. D. Brown, captured at Plymouth and 
taken to Andersonville, testified that on or 
about the 15th of May, 1864, having written 
a letter to his parents, and being about to 
take it to the letter-box, he saw a cripple with 
one leg, who asked the sentinel to call Captain 
Wirz ; the captain came; the man asked him 
to let him go out; the captain never an¬ 
swered, but turned to the sentinel and said: 




THE TRIAL. gj; 


‘‘Shoot the one-legged Yankee devil 1” the 
shot was fired, and a part of the man’s head 
was blown off, and he died in a few minutes. 
The blood-hounds were taken round every 
morning, Captain Wirz riding with them on 
horseback, in company with the keeper ; the 
witness had seen a man who had been lacer¬ 
ated by these dogs. When he went to An- 
dersonville his watch and one hundred and 
leventy-five dollars in money were taken from 
him; and for one day the prisoners were de¬ 
prived of food, until they had arrested about 
three hundred men, who from starvation had 
made a raid oh the supply wagons. 

Jacob B. Brown, a brother of the former 
witness, and late a prisoner at Andersonville, 
testified that On the 27th of July, 1864, he 
saw Wirz in the sentry-box; when a man 
came beyOnd the dead-line to get water, Wirz 
ordered that he be shot down—the sentinel 
fired and killed him, the bullet taking effect in 
the head. The witness mentioned another 
case, for a similar reason; the ball which was 
fired took effect in the man's breast; he did 
not see the man die, but had no doubt the 
wound was fatal. He had heard men threat¬ 
ened by Captain Wirz ; the latter said that if 
the men did not fall into the ranks they would 
be shot down ; the men accordingly hurried 
into the ranks. The witness stated cases 
where the prisoners were deprived of rations 
from the 1st to the 4th of July, 1864. 

Mr. Baker declined to cross-examine the 
two witnesses last named, having taken of¬ 
fence at the Court. He said : “I desired that 
my relations should be amicable with the 
Court; but after what has taken place, I 
think I can be of no further assistance to the 
risoner by remaining any longer. I had 
oped the mass of testimony , in my posses¬ 
sion would have—” 

The Court (interrupting)—-Do you decline; 
what is your purpose ? 

Mr. Baker—I must state that we leave the 
prisoner to himself. 

The Court—We don't desire to have you. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman—I should like to 
know whether the counsel have abandoned 
the case ? 

The Court—We don’t understand that Mr. 
Schade has abandoned the case. 

Mr. Schade—I have tried to stay here as 
long as possible. 

The Court—Do you abandon the case ? 

Mr. Schade—I follow the example of my 
colleague, believing we cannot do any thing 
more for our client. 

The Court—Then you will take your seat. 
We understand distinctly that the counsel 
have abandoned the case. 

Mr. Baker—We do not; but leave him in 
the hands of the Court and the Judge-Advo¬ 
cate. 

The Court—Not another word from you. 
You are now a mere spectator. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman—I will try to 
adapt myself to the interests of the prisoner. 

The Court said—We will now adjourn if 


the Judge-Advocate desires, to enable him to 
take such steps as he may think proper. 

The Judge-Advocate assented, and at a few 
minutes to three o’clock the Court adjourned 
till to-morrow. 

TUESDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, Aug. 29.—The Military Com¬ 
mission reassembled this morning. 

The prisoner, Wirz, was brought into the 
Court at half-past ten o’clock. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman said he had a 
communication from the prisoner, which read 
as follows :•— 

Old Capitol Prison, Washington City, 
D. C., Aug. 29.—Col. N. P. Chipman, Judge- 
Advocate Military Commission:—I most re¬ 
spectfully ask the Commission, as I am here 
alone, to send for my counsel, Messrs. Schade 
and Baker, as I understand that, on my most 
fervent entreaties, they have consented again 
to appear for me. They understand my whole 
case, and know my witnesses and papers. 
Hoping that the Commission will grant my 
request, I sign myself, most respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, H. Wirz, 
Late Captain, A. A. G., C. S. A. 

Major-General Wallace said, if there was no 
objection the gentlemen would be sent for. 

No objection being made, and the Commis¬ 
sion being disposed to afford every proper 
means for defence, an orderly was despatched 
for Messrs. Baker and Schade. 

The Court was then cleared for about three- 
quarters of an hour, and when the doors were 
opened, the record of yesterday was read. 

Messrs. Baker and Schade again appeared 
in Court as counsel for Wirz. 

The room was more crowded than hereto¬ 
fore with spectators, many women being in 
the crowd. 

Dr. J. G. Roy was called, and being exam¬ 
ined by Assistant Judge-Advocate Hosmer, 
testified that he was on duty at Anderson¬ 
ville ; he was under the immediate charge of 
Dr. Stevenson; the hospital was in a deplora¬ 
ble condition, there not being a sufficient sup¬ 
ply of tents and bunks; there were no com¬ 
forts ; he was told that there were between 
thirty and thirty-five thousand prisoners 
there ; he did not find much difficulty in ob¬ 
taining medicines, excepting a few rarer arti¬ 
cles ; the men presented the most horrible 
specimens of humanity he ever saw; a large 
number of them were affected with the worst 
forms of scurvy; he attributed the sickness 
to long confinement, exposure, and the ab¬ 
sence of the comforts of life; there were 
maggots in the swamp near the hospital, the 
malaria from which had a most fatal effect 
upon the patients; the insects, or white ants 
with wings, were such as result from decayed 
animal and vegetable matter; they were so 
numerous that it was dangerous for a man to 
open his mouth at sundown. The- witness 
heard that there was a dead-line, and one of 
his patients, had been killed, but he did not 



m toe 

see him shot; he stated the circumstances 
under which the prisoner said he had com¬ 
mand of him in the administration of his 
duties as surgeon, and all the surgeons came 
to the conclusion that Captain Wirz had 
full authority over the prison, under General 
Winder; he had 6een the chief clerk of Dr. 
James bucked, and on inquiring the reason, 
was informed that the punishment was in¬ 
flicted by order of Captain Wirz. 

Cross-examined by Mr. Baker—The hospi¬ 
tal fund about which he had testified, and 
with which delicacies for the sick were pur¬ 
chased, was in existence at Andersonville 
when he went there; during the month of 
February or March last five thousand dollars 
in Confederate money was drawn from the 
fund; at that time a one dollar greenback 
would purchase twenty of Confederate money; 
the witness was at Andersonville six months, 
and the bucking was the only instances of 
cruelty he had seen. The medical condition 
of the hospital was better after Dr. Clayton 
came there; Captain Wirz exercised no 
more influence over the former physicians 
than he did over Dr. Clayton. 

The Court at one took a recess till two 
o’clock. 

On reassembling, Dr. B. A. Yanderkieft 
testified that he was on duty at Annapolis 
from May 26th, 1863, to May 28th, 1865 ; he 
attended to more than two thousand of the 
returned prisoners from Andersonville; they 
were suffering from chronic diarrhoea, scurvy, 
and other diseases; some were in a dying con¬ 
dition,. and others had, to be treated in the 
hospital before they acquired strength enough 
to be taken home ; the disease from which 
death ensued more than from any other cause 
was chronic diarrhoea; this resulted from in¬ 
sufficient and improper food, and from ex¬ 
posure ; very little attention was paid to their 
condition at Andersonville; he was shown a 
photograph of a living skeleton, and said he 
had seen many of the returned prisoners in a 
similar condition. 

Cross-examined by Mr. Baker—He knew 
officially that the persons were from Ander¬ 
sonville ; had seen men reduced to the condi¬ 
tion as represented by the photograph. The 
witness was regularly educated in Germany 
as a physician. 

Martin E. Hogan testified as to his having 
been a prisoner at Andersonville; the men 
were in a miserable condition, as bad as possi¬ 
bly could be; the men were so thick they 
could scarcely elbow their way ; some lay in 
their own filth, calling for water and crying 
for food, but no attention was paid to them. 

He also testified to other circumstances at¬ 
tending the prison, showing the miserable 
quality of the food and its injurious effects, 
such as half-baked corn bread, which was sour; 
the beef, when it was served, being of an in¬ 
ferior quality; men afflicted with scurvy 
would crawl upon the ground; the sight was 
horrible; very many were insufficiently clad, 
and having no shelter, burrowed in the 


ground: As to hoifnds, he was brought back 
to prison through their agency. He had seen 
Wirz with hounds trying to strike the trail 
of an escaped prisoner. For attempting to 
escape from prison about the 8th of October, 
1864, after the most obscene abuse from Cap¬ 
tain Wirz, he was fastened by neck and feet, 
and remained there sixty-eight hours. 

He heard Captain Wirz give orders that 
he should not have food, but he did obtain 
food from paroled comrades who stole it for 
him; he had seen three comrades put in the 
stocks at the same time; one man was put in 
the stocks because he asserted his manhood 
by resenting the abuse of a Confederate sol¬ 
dier ; when the prisoners were being removed 
from Andersonville to Millen, the witness saw 
Captain Wirz take a man by the collar be¬ 
cause he would not walk faster ; the man was 
so worn by disease that he could not; throw¬ 
ing the man on his back he stamped upon 
him with his feet; he saw the man bleeding,, 
and he ,di e d a short time afterward; in the 
dissecting room he saw studepts, in pursuit 
of knowledge, sawing open the skulls of de¬ 
ceased prisoners, and opening the bodies. 

Cross-examined by Mr. Baker—When he 
escaped he took with him a knife to pro¬ 
tect himself from harm, if necessary ; it w r as 
a Confederate .surgeon’s knife which he had 
taken without leave ; his companions who at¬ 
tempted to escape were provided with re¬ 
volvers ; five loads were fired at the party who 
first pursued, and who were sending the 
dogs after them; he was put in the stocks from 
personal revenge, because he had tried to 
escape; the paper he signed before he at¬ 
tempted to escape he did not consider a parole 
of honor; he (lid not know what he was 
signing. 

Q. Do you believe that you could have 
passed out of the prison without signing that 

aper ? A. If I had signed a parole of honor 

should have respected it. 

The cross-examination was further con¬ 
tinued. 

Joseph D. Keyser testified that he was in 
the United States service ; was captured and. 
sent to Andersonville; he arrived there with the 
first party of four hundred men; there was suffi¬ 
cient accommodations then, but as others were 
added affairs became bad, and men began to 
be afflicted with diarrhoea, dysentery, scurvy, 
and gangrene; they lay on the ground and 
were notjsrotected from the weather ;.in April 
or May, 1864, supplies were received from the 
North, and some mouldy cake or bread was 
thrown over the dead-line; one man reached 
beyond the line for a piece of the bread, when 
the guard shot him through the head; wit¬ 
ness saw another man after he had been shot 
in the abdomen; he had seen men in the 
chain-gang with iron collars around their 
necks; some of them were thus punished for 
attempting to escape; the prisoner (WirzJ 
was profane and overbearing towards our 
men on the slightest provocation; he had 
seen men bucked by Captain Wirz’s orders; 





THE TRIAL. 


witness had seen General Winder at the prison 
when a number of the prisoners rushed up to 
see him, and Winder told them to stand back, 
and gave orders to the guard to fire on those 
who approached the gate nearer than fifteen 
feet. 

' Witness was for a long time cross-examined 
by the defence. He had never seen Captain 
Wirz commit an assault on any individual 
prisoner, but he had heard the! prisoner give 
orders to the guard, one of them to confine a 
prisoner in the stocks for attempting to 
escape. Wirz called him & •—-— ——. 
^Tl>e man spoke back, when Wirz drefa a re¬ 
volver, and told h,im he would fix him. The 
man was sent to the stocks, where he re¬ 
mained twelve hours. 

The Court at quarter past four, r. m., 
adjourned till Wednesday morning. 

WEDNESDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, Wednesday August 30.— 
The record of yesterday having been read, 
General Thomas,a member of tlieCommission, 
said he understood that the prisoner had been 
kept handcuffed at night, while in prison. 
The accused should be at liberty to prepare 
his buiness previous to attendance before the 
Court. He did not know who had Charge of 
the accused, but as he was attended constantly 
by guards, he could see no necessity for con¬ 
tinuing the rigid treatment. He tnade this 
suggestion with the view that the condition 
of the prisoner might be ameliorated. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman stated that the 
rigor alluded to was adopted as a matter of 
precaution, at the suggestion'of the counsel 
for the defence, who said that otherwise, the 
^prisoner might commit suicide. Thisconver- 
•ation occurred the same day the gentleman 
'retired as his counsel. Acting on the sug¬ 
gestion of the counsel, and upon his own 
judgment, he asked the keeper to put the 
handcuffs on the prisoner. It was not done 
that night, because the sentry constantly at¬ 
tended him; but it was subsequently done. 
It was not unusual for persons, accused as the 
prisoner was, to be kept in close confinement 
and handcuffed. He was sure such treatment 
was weir known to the prisoner himself. It 
seemed .the Court should not dictate what 
treatment the prison-keeper should adopt. 
The Court was responsible for him only while 
he was here. He did not want to subject the 
prisoner to cruel treatment. He did not pro¬ 
pose to apply the lex talionis. If the Court 
thought that no such treatment as that com¬ 
plained of should be continued, he felt satis¬ 
fied that Colonel Colby would accommodate 
himself to their wishes. He repeated, the 
handcuffing was only a matter of precaution, 
for the reason stated. He was sorry to learn 
that the handcuffs, last night, injured the 
prisoner; but it was certainly unintentional, 
and could not have been known to Colonel 
Colby. 

General Thomas would distinctly state that 


the motion was brought to his attention by 
the counsel for the accused. 

Mr. Baker said that 6n that day, the pris¬ 
oner was so distracted in mind, that he him¬ 
self (Mr. Baker) did not know what he would 
do. The prisoner threatened frequently to 
him, that if the counsel did not return, or de¬ 
serted him, he would never again come into 
the presence of the Court. During the confu¬ 
sion and excitement of the prisoner’s mind • 
in speaking to the Judge-Advocate he made 
the remark that he did not know what tho 
prisoner would d6 unless the counsel returned. 
He did not know but that the prisoner might 
be confined closely. From this the mistake 
arose. Last night, however, when there was 
no necessity for it, the prisoner was hand¬ 
cuffed. It was only intended for a temporary 
circumstance. If he had had more calmness 
at the time,’he might perhaps not have made 
the suggestion. It was proper to say, the 
prisoner made no complaint of harsh treat¬ 
ment. From what he had seen of the guante 
in attendance, they had given the prisoner 
every attention demanded. There was no 
necessity hereafter to put him in any un¬ 
necessary confinement. He was rather sorry 
that his associate suggested any thing of that 
kind. If it had come to his knowledge he 
would have let it pass. If the prisoner had 
not been in an unhealthy condition, no injury 
would have occurred to him by the treatment. 
No one, however, is to blame for it. 

The Judge-Advocate — The Government 
must take its own course. 

Mr. Baker presumed the placing of the 
prisoner in handcuffs would not again occur, 
in consequence of any statement of his own. 

Alexander W. Peissons, being sworn, said' 
that he had served as Lieutenant-Colonel of 
the fifty-fifth Georgia volunteers; he was on 
duty in Andersonville from some time in Feb¬ 
ruary, 1864, till the first of June, of the same 
year; he was first sent there to command 
troops, and afterward was assigned as post¬ 
commander; Captain Wirz came direct from 
Richmond, by order of General Winder, to 
command the prison; the latter, in his letter 
or order, said that Captain Wirz was an old 
prison officer, reliable, and therefore capable 
of conducting the prison; it was dated some 
time in February or March; the witness, as 
commander of the post, made a requisition 
upon the commander of the troops for soldiers 
to guard the prison; these soldiers thus passed 
under the control of Captain Wirz; the prison 
was laid out by W. S. Winder, son of General 
Winder, and its capacity was for ten thousand 
men ; Richard Winder was the quartermaster 
of the prison; but the number there was from 
fifteen thousand to twenty thousand prisoners; 
the witness undertook to erect additional 
shelter ; he was just about to do so by hauling 
timber, when.he was relieved, and never went 
back, except as counsel for some of the men; 
the timber had then been cut down from 
within the prison; he had command at 
AndersonviUe in the earlier and better days; 







54 


THE TRIAL. 


the witness drew a^ill of injunction to abate 
the prison nuisance, owing to the stench and 
effluvia, and unhealthy influence; the judge 
to whom he applied, said he would appoint a 
day to Jiear the argument in chambers, and 
the witness made his preparations accordingly; 
General Howell Cobb, who commanded the 
Department of Georgia, and the Georgia 
militia, sent him a communication, asking 
him whether the bill was to be charged to him 
or against the Government; he informed Gen¬ 
eral Cobb he had drawn the bill, which was to 
be charged to himself; Cobb replied, through 
his adjutant-general, that he thought it incon¬ 
sistent with his duty as a Confederate officer 
to take such legal proceedings; discovering 
that he would be court-martialed if he perse¬ 
vered, he said to General Cobb, “If you deem 
it unofficerlike, I will abandon the casehe 
Chose to do this rather than be. driven from 
the case; this was in July or August, 1864. 

Cross-examined by Mr. Baker—The capac- 
ty of the prison was for ten thousand men, 
and beyond that number no more ought to 
have been placed on the ground, even after 
“the enlargement; Captain Wirz was not to 
blame for the size of the prison; one of the 
reasons for desiring to abate the prison as a 
nuisance, was the almost insufferable stench 
and filth, caused in part of the grave-yards; 
the green flies were as thick as locusts; the 
great blunder was on the part of the Confed¬ 
erate Government in sending so many pris¬ 
oners there without proper preparations. 

Q.—Do you think one or more individually 
were responsible ? if so, who are they ? A.— 
I think some of the high officials were respon¬ 
sible ; I sent a communication to General 
Winder, saying the prison was worked beyond 
its capacity, but no attention was paid to the 
remonstrance; an order came from General 
Cooper,, adjutant and inspector-general, ad¬ 
dressed to General Winder, the purport of 
which was to organize a prison department; 
an officer was put in charge on the other side 
of the Mississippi, and General Winder was 
put in "^charge on this side; no officer had a 
right to interfere with him, and it was made 
the duty of the commanders of the adjoining 
posts to furnish troops for the prisons; Gen¬ 
eral Winder had supreme control and domin¬ 
ion; I read the order, but do not recollect 
whether it was issued by direction of President 
Davis or not; it was, however, signed by Gen¬ 
eral Cooper. 

By Mr. Baker—There were not more than 
eight hundred or one thousand troops when I 
was there, and the greatest number of pris¬ 
oners from eighteen thousand to twenty thou¬ 
sand. 

By Judge-Advocate Chipman—The dead¬ 
line originated after Captain Wirz took com¬ 
mand of the prison. 

By Mr. Baker—It was called the dead-line, 
because if a prisoner went beyond it he would 
be shot, and there was no difference in princi¬ 
ple between this and the imaginary line of a 
sentinel; the reason for the dead-line, was to 


prevent prisoners from undermining and 
making their escape. 

Benjamin F. Clark, who had been in the 
Confederate medical purveyor's' office, wai 
examined and cross-examined as to the sup¬ 
plies of medicines ; they had to resort to in- 
digenous preparations, while chemicals were 
obtained by blockade running or importations 

James Yan Yalkenburg, residing ten miles 
from Macon, Georgia, testified that the crops 
were more than an average in 1864; Macon 
is sixty-five miles from Andersonville, and 
Americus nine miles from the latter place; 
the provisions were more plentiful thai\ in 
previous years, because no cotton was planted. 

The Court, at one o’clock, took a recess till 
two. 

On reassembling, Yan Yalkenburg was 

Cross-examined by Mr. Baker—What he 
knew of the crops was derived from observe* 
tion, and the Macon newspapers; he believed 
the supplies for the army plenty in Georgia 
the last two or three years ; although in 1863 I 
there was some failure in the crop ; he could 
count five or six wheat mills on the route 
from Macon to Americus. 

By the Court—The witness had seen large 
piles of government flour at Macon. 

Sergeant Boston Corbett was recalled. 

By the defence—He could not name any 
individual shot, but had seen prisoners shot 
every month he was in prison ; desperadoes 
from among our own prisoners would knock 
down men for the slightest offence; the men 
would be taken to what is called, the “ barber 
shop,” and their hair shaved; when he first 
arrived at the depot he was told that six of 
the raiders or desperadoes, had been hung the 
day before by peaceable prisoners; men were 
thrown together promiscuously, and killed or 
mained one another as they chose. 

Q.—If Captain Wirz had been more careful 
to protect the innocent from the desperadoes, 
wouldhe not have been obliged to be more strict 
in his discipline ? A.—I never knew a man 
more atrocious than Captain Wirz. 

The Court said to the witness that they did 
not want his opinion, but simply an answer. 

The witness replied to the question that if 
the offender had been promptly punished and 
divided from the others, such scenes would 
not have^>ccurred. 

Q.—In order to protection, would Captain 
Wirz have been obliged to arrest them more 
frequently according to your ideas of disci¬ 
pline? A.—Yes, sir. 

Q.—Then it would be necessary for him to 
be more strict ? A.—Yes, in reference to the 
few; but kindness to the many. 

Q.—You say that on one occasion when 
you lay concealed, one of the hounds rubbed 
against your nose ; why did he not bite you ? 
A.—The same power that kept the lions from 
tearing Daniel in pieces, is the same in whom 
I trust. (Laughter.) 

Dr. Catlin testified: He was for two years 
in the Confederate army, and from May to 
September last, on service at Andersonville; 










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THE TRIAL. 


fie saw Captain .Wirz, at the time the pris¬ 
oners were being removed, seize a man who 
had fallen out of the ranks, and strike him 
once or twice; on another occasion, he saw a 
inan bitten by dogs ; the man was in a tree; 
lie was ordered to come down, when the dogs 
seized him; Captain Wirz was there at the 
tame. 

Cross-examined—Did not know that Cap- 
tniir Wirz was to blame for the awful condition 
of the prison; did not know that Captain 
Wirz waded up to his knees in water to keep 
the dogs from biting the man; did not see 
the prisoner seize the dogs; the dogs were 
fomraon foxhound's. 

Andrew S. Spring, a prisoner at Anderson- 
ville, testified to the filthy condition of the 
place and the bad quality of the food, some 
of which was full of maggots ; vegetables were 
hot issued with the rations, and he succeeded 
in smuggling some in which he had procured 
from a Georgia regiment; he thought there 
was plenty of green corn in the neighborhood, 
there being a farm of seventy-five or one’hun- 
dred acres ; a strict order against trading was 
issued by Captain Wirz ; peaches, he judged, 
were plentiful; the guard would seize peaches 
and vegetables which had been smuggled in, 
and take them to Captain Wirz’s headquar¬ 
ters ; the effect of the treatment, made idiots 

some of the men and crippled others; one 
of the prisoners ventured to ask Captain Wirz 
to give him employment outside, that he might 
draw an additional ration; Captain Wirz re¬ 
plied: “you G— d— Yankee son of a b—h, 
if you don’t go in, I’ll starve every one of you 
to death;” this was a common mode of reply 
to prisoners ; on another occasion, he said to 
a prisoner who had endeavored to escape: “if 
you ever do that again, I’ll shoot you as sure 
as I’ll go to hell—and I know I shall go there ;” 
rations w r ere furnished to the dogs from the 
bakery; he saw a man brought in by these 
dogs attended by Captain Wirz and Turner ; 
he had some men working in the chain-gang, 
and one of them was so reduced that he was 
taken to the hospital, and died; witness had 
seen men in the stocks; about the 15th of 
May, he saw a man shot from a sentry-box ; 
and Captain Wirz soon appeared, and drawing 
his revolver, swore he would kill every man 
who did not get away from the gate ; another 
man who was asleep, rolled under the dead 
line, and was shot; he had seen one 6f our 
negro soldiers whipped fifty or seventy-five 
lashes for refusing to work, he being sick. 

Cross-examined—There were about twenty 
Regroes in the squads ; I never saw Captain 
Wirz shoot anybody; Captain Wirz might 
have been attracted to the ground after the 
ihooting to whioh he had referred; he did not 
think that Wirz remonstrated with the sentry 
for the shooting, and removed him; the men 
were put into the chain-gang because they 
had attempted to escape. 

Q.—Did you ever see anybody shot who 
was not committing an offence against the 
regulations ? A.—Yes; the man who was 


&7 

asleep and foiled over the lines. In the course 
of the examination, the witness said the men 
of the fifty-fifth Georgia were good Union 
men, and friendly to our prisoners, allowing 
things to be smuggled in. They told him 
that every sentinel who shot a man received, 
as a reward, a furlough for thirty days. There 
are members of that Georgia regiment in Court 
who can verify this assertion. Six or eight 
times he had been to the storehouse, which 
was thr$e hundred or four hundred feet long, 
and always found it filled with supplies, two- 
thirds of which, he supposed, was corn-meal; 
there were at the time-, about thirty-two thou¬ 
sand prisoners, ami from five hundred to two 
thousand Confederate troops there: 

The Court, at four o’clock, adjourned until 
Friday morning. 

LKTTER FROM WIRZ. 

[From the Now York News, August 30.] 

• Old Capitol Prison, I 
Washington City, D. C. Aug. 27, 1865. j 
To the Editor of the New York News : 

Although a perfect stranger to you, I take, 
in my unfortunate and helpless condition, the 
liberty to address you this letter, knowing 
that as a friend to the downtrodden South, 
you cannot but have some sympathy for a 
man who, as he believes, is innocently about 
to be sacrificed—a sympathy which I hope 
will prompt you to interest yourself in his 
behalf. 

I am a native of Switzerland, and, having 
been for years before the war a resident of 
Louisiana, could not do otherwise then take 
up arms to defend the State and country of 
my adoption when it was invaded. I joined 
the Confederate army in 1861, and served 
faithfully the cause I considered to be a right¬ 
ful one. In 1862 the United IStates troops 
destroyed my home, and my wife and three 
children had to seek shelter among friends, 
I lost all I possessed but a few negroes, who 
still remained faithful. In 18641 was ordered 
to report to the officer of the military prison 
at Andersonville, Georgia. By this officer I 
was put in command of the prison, and re¬ 
mained in that position from April, 1864, 
until 1865. When the South ceased the 
struggle I was still in Andersonville with 
my family, believing myself fully protected 
by the terms of the agreement between Gens. 
Sherman and Johnston, and never dreaming 
that I, a poor • captain and subaltern officer, 
would be made to answer with my life for 
what is now alleged to have * been done at 
Andersonville. I was, in violation of a safe 
conduct which was given me by a staff officer 
of Gen. Wilson, arrested in Macon, Georgia; 
was kept there in confinement for two weeks, 
and then sent on to Washington, and am 
now, by order of the President of the United 
States, brought before a Court to be tried 
under the most atrocious charges. I have 
no friends here. I am helpless; and unless 
I can get help, will have to loose the last 
thing which I possess in this world—my 



58 


THE TRIAL. 


good name and my life. My conscience is 
alear. I have never dealt cruelly with a pris¬ 
oner under my charge. If they suffered for 
want of shelter, food, clothing and necessaries, 
I could not help it—having no control over 
these things—things which the Confeder¬ 
ate Government could give only in very 
limited quantity, even to our own men, as 
everybody knows who will be just and im¬ 
partial. My legal advisers, (Messrs. Schade 
and Baker,) seeing my helplessness, have 
audertaken to conduct my defence. They 
are both doing it from generositv and com¬ 
passion, knowing full well that I have not 
the means to remunerate them for their 
trouble. But I cannot expect them to furnish 
the means which it absolutely requires in the 
conducting of a cause of such importance. 
Copies of depositions have to be made, mes¬ 
sengers have to be sent here and there to get 
up testimony; and how can this be done 
without money? I have none to give; and, 
no doubt, my case will be lost—my . life sacri¬ 
ficed—for the want of the money to defray 
the expenses of such a trial. But my counsel 
rbelieve, from the evidence already in their 
ssession, that if the necessary means can 
obtained, my acquittal must be the result. 
On this condition I take the liberty to appeal 
to you to assist me; and let me not be the 
victim of injustice. Your influence is such 
that it will not require very great efforts to 
collect the necessary, means for a vigorous 
carrying on of k the defence. I am, myself, 
without clothes, without any means to alle¬ 
viate the hardships of a close confinement. 
My health is bad, and the prison fare is not 
calculated to benefit a sick, or. at least a 
suffering man. Still, these things I have 
borne without murmuring, and hope, with the 
help of God, to bear yet for a while longer. 

Hoping that this petition will receive a 
favorable reception on your part, and assuring 
you again that nothing but the direst neces- 
lty could induce me to address you, I remain 
sir, with the greatest respect, your obedient 
servant, II. Wirz. 

Late Capt. and A. A. G., C. S. A. 

PEEDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, September, 1.—The Wirz 
trial was resumed this morning. 

Nazareth Allen testified that he was for a 
time in the Confederate service at Anderson- 
ville, and was a guard there attached to the 
third Georgia reserves; he knew that 
Captain Wirz was commander of the prison; 
he had seen men in the stocks and in the 
chain-gang; one man died in the stocks; he 
was thus punished for trying to escape; on 
one occasion a prisoner stepped out of the 
ranks to ask Captain Wirz to transfer him to 
another mess, when Wirz immediately 
ordered him back, cursing and threatening to 
shoot him. The witness testified at length 
to the filthy condition of the prison. He 
and others made complaints to their officers 


on the subject; a man who was sick, lying 
the ground, calling in his distress *on 1 
mother, asked the witness lor tent ma 
rials, but he could not give the articles, as 
was against orders; the prisoners we 
deprived of vegetables, including onioi 
which they had purchased at the gate; 
knew that hounds were kept at the prison 
scent those who had escaped. 

Cross-examined by the defence—Witne 
was conscripted into the Confederate servic 
he had never seen any of the prisoners sh< 
nor did he-shoot any of them ; he never h; 
orders to shoot prisoners who crossed i 
“ dead-line.” The hounds were common pis 
tation dogs, and not particularly ugly 
savage; he had never seen a man bitten 1 
them. 

Captain J. Heath, who had been on du 
in the Andersonville prison, in the Confedi 
ate service, testified that in August, 18( 
Wirz sent thirteen men to him to be irone 
they were brought by a provost-mars! 
attached to General Winder’s headquarter 
the next day twelve of the men were irone< 
one of them had got away, when the houn 
were put upon his scent; the man was d 
covered up a tree, and a pistol was fired 
him ; Wirz commanded him to come dow; 
the man asked that the dogs might not 
permitted to bite him ; the dogs, howev< 
attacked him when he descended, biting 
his legs ; Wirz could have taken the prisorn 
but did not call the hounds off; he recollect 
of a sick man being put in the chain-gam 
he did not know whether the man died or no 
he did not like to tell what ailed the ma 
there being ladies in the courtroom. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman said the witne 
could modestly tell what ailed the man. 

The witness then said the man had t 
diarrhoea, and those with whom he w 
chained said they “ would be damned if tin 
would be fastened to such a man;” they h: 
to travel at the same time to the same pla 
for the same purpose, namely, to the sin 
the witness had seen the prisoner knock do\ 
two or three persons; once, when the mo\ 
ments of the prisoners commenced, becau 
one of them tried to get out in a squad 
which he did not belong, 

The witness was cross-examined at son 
length by defence, saying, among other thin^ 
that before the stockade was extended ] 
heard Captain Wirz say if any more priso 
oners were sent thither there would not 1 
room enough for them. 

The Court took a recess from one till U 
o’clock. 

When the Court reassembled, Gener 
Thomas, a member of the Court, called t 
tent ion to an article which appeared in yt 
terday’s Evening Star , in reference to tl 
loss of records, and said he wanted tl 
prisoner tried fairly, and therefore ash 
whether it was true that the records hi 
been lost or stolen. 

Colonel Chipman replied that the hospit 



THE TRIAL. 


59 


records and the register of deaths, with one 
exception, were in charge of the clerk of the 
Commission. He did not know on what the 
article in the Star was based. The Govern¬ 
ment intended to produce the records at the 
proper time. 

Mr. Baker said he knew nothing about 
them. 

Colonel Chipman remarked that the alle¬ 
gation in the Star was so indefinite, that it 
was impossible to tell whether the papers al¬ 
luded to have ever been in the possession of 
the Government or not. He repeated, the 
hospital and death registers were not stolen, 
and would be introduced at the proper time. 

Mr. Baker knew nothing about the state¬ 
ments in the newspapers. He had read them. 
So far as the counsel for the prisoner was 
concerned they would be happy to have pro¬ 
duced all records bearing upon the Anderson- 
ville prison. He asked that all the prisoner 
ever did be laid before the Court. 

Colonel Chipman said the article could not 
relate to the papers in his custody. 

Mr. Baker asked, if not inconsistent with 
the Judge-Advocate’s duty, that the records 
should be placed where the counsel for the 
defence could have access to them. 

After some argument Colonel Chipman 
said, it is not now consistent with my duty to 
produce the papers. 

Mr. Baker—We made the request civilly 
for information. We need all the papers very 
much. 

William Dilliard, late in the service of the 
Confederate army at Andersonville, testified 
to the filthy state of the prison, and the 
miserable condition of the prisoners, owing to 
the want of the necessaries of life, and from 
other causes. He gave facts in connection 
with men in the chain-gang, or hunted by 
hounds. 

Captain Honeycuth, who was also in the 
rebel service at Andersonville, said he saw 
Captain Wirz draw his pistol and threaten to 
shoot a man who was sick for not starting up 
in line; prisoners attempting to escape were 
hunted by hounds ; he saw one who was torn 
in the leg by them; another man was whipped 
on the bare back with a stick, because he 
blacked his face and attempted to escape with 
a gang of negroes. 

James Mahan, who was also in the Confed¬ 
erate army, and on duty at Andersonville, 
testified that he and the assistant provost- 
marshal took thirteen men to the blacksmith 
shop to have iron collars and chains fastened 
on them ; he received his verbal orders from 
Captain Wirz, through an orderly sergeant; 
one of the men called “Frenchy,” however, 
made his escape; Captain Wirz said, when 
he heard of it‘ “That d—d Frenchy has 
escaped again,” and he sent for the dogs, 
which got on the trail of the man, who was 
captured near the stream; Wirz got off his 
horse and went alongside of the dogs; the 
witness judged that it w T as Wirz who fired the 
pistol at the man; the man’s trowsers were 


torn by the 'dogs; he did not know whether 
the flesh w r as injured ; witness had heard Wirz 
remark that he wished all the prisoners were 
in hell, and himself with them. 

The witnesses above-named were cross-ex¬ 
amined at length. The last one said it was a 
laborious and vexatious task to take care of 
the prisoners, and he didn’t think that any 
one would be ambitious to have the situation. 

Judge Daniel Hall, of Georgia, residing ten 
miles from Andersonville, testified: He 
frequently visited the vicinity of the prison in 
December, 1864; the place was so crowded 
that there really seemed to be no room for 
more ; over Captain Wirz’s offiqe was a sign 
bearing these words : “ Commandant of the 
Interior Prison;” while there he saw him 
draw requisitions for rations; the act of the 
Confederate Congress required one tenth of the 
farm products to be delivered to the govern¬ 
ment and paid in as tax ; the act was gener¬ 
ally complied with; the supplies were 
gathered at Oglethorp, which is ten miles 
from Andersonville. 

Mr. Decker, in the cross-examination, 
asked the witness if he knew how the prison 
became so crowded. The witness replied that 
he only knew from what General Winder told 
him, viz: That the prison was built for ten 
thousand only, but that the rush of additional 
prisoners from Libby, Belle Island, and other 
points hearer Richmond, in consequence of 
Dahlgren and Kilpatrick’s raid, overcrowded 
the prison. General Winder was proceeding 
to enlarge the prison, but he found he cOuld 
not procure sufficient timber and labor. The 
general informed him that he had impressed 
all the saw-mills he could, and w T as unable to 
furnish all the prisoners with shelter. The 
witness was asked by General Winder to con¬ 
tract for two houses at Oglethorp, in "which to * 
place some of the sick from Andersonville, 
but he could not succeed in renting the 
premises. 

At four o’clock the Court adjourned until 
to-day. 

SATURDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, September 3.—The trial of 
Wirz was resumed yesterday. 

0. S. Belcher testified that he had served 
in the sixteenth Illinois cavalry, and was a 
prisoner at Andersonville from the 6th of 
March until September, 1864; he thought 
that Captain Wirz assumed command about 
the 1st of April; on one occasion Wirz came 
Into the stockade, when a crippled man, walk¬ 
ing on crutches, approached him and asked to 
go outside; the request was refused, and the 
cripple said he would rather be shot than stay 
there ; the witness soon heard Wirz halloo to 
the sentinel, and told the man if he did not go 
back he would shoot him; the man did not 
return, when the sentinel fired, and shot him 
in the jaw; the cripple was knowm by the 
name of “ Chickamauga;” Wirz afterward 




THE TRIAL. 


60 

threatened to shoot the other men if they 
did not go away. 

On another occasion, while the prisoners 
were being divided into squads of nineties and 
hundreds, one of the men, owing to sickness, 
did not fall in, and Wirz threatened to shoot 
and did shoot him; the ball went through 
the man’s hat; prisoners were kept in the sun 
all day, and were not allowed to procure wa¬ 
ter ; if the guard could not give a satisfactory 
account of one of their missing numbers, they 
were deprived of their rations ; this was the 
ease for three days early in July; there was 
not sufficient r6om in the prison, scarcely 
enough for men to stand upon; the limits 
were Enlarged on the north side ; there were 
forty-two thousand prisoners there at one 
time ; he had heard Wirz say he was killing 
more Yankees than those who were serving 
at the front, and had seen twenty-fiVe or 
thirty men shot over the dead-line, and others 
fired into who were not over the dead-line. 

Cross-examined by the defence—“-Q. Were 
there not desperadoes there, men who would 
steal and commit Other offenses, and was not 
the cripple to whom you referred one of them ? 
A. There were troublesome characters there, 
but I don’t know whether that man belonged 
to them; I don’t think that a cripple on a 
crutch was a good man to steal. (Laughter.) 

During a further examination the witness 
sppke of a man at whom the sentinel fired. 

Q. Did you see the ball hit him. A. A 
man must hjive very good eyes to see the ball 
when it strikes a man. (Laughter.) The 
witness gave various instances of men being 
shot; one was shot while in his tent, and for 
merely stretching his arm over the dead-line, 
and another was shot for treading over the 
line ; he had heard Captain Wirz order the 
sentinel to shoot the cripple; some of those 
shot at were killed, and others were taken to 
the Hospital. 

James H. Davidson testified that he was a 
member of the fourth Iowa cavalry, and 
taken as a prisoner to Andersonville on the 
8th of March, He described the filthy con¬ 
dition of the prison and the great mortality 
among the prisoners; for a week he drove the 
dead wagon ; sometimes twenty-five men were 
thrown into it like wood; on tlie return he 
would bring wood or rations in the same cart; 
lie had seen rebels With blankets, shoes, and 
shirts on, sent thither by the Sanitary*Com¬ 
mission for the use of our men ; Captain 
Wirz, he knew, made a breakfast on some of 
the crackers, cheese, and dried beef sent there 
for our prisoners; he had seen four or five 
hundred boxes - at the depot with supplies; 
they \yere marked U. S.; it was a, common 
thing for men to be put in the chaih-gang; a 
man died in the chain-gang with an ifon collar 
abound his neck; he had seen the hounds; 
there were two kinds, batch dogs and bull 
terriers; .one of the dogs badly tore the flesh 
from a man’s legs; while another man was 
hanging up his clothes which he had washed, 
to dry, one of the pieces blew over the dead¬ 


line ; he stepped beyond the line to get the 
piece, when he was fired upon and shot in the 
breast; another man had reached beyond the 
dead-line for some crumbs of bread when he 
was shot in the head ; Wirz shot a man a 
short time after he assumed command of the 
prison ; the latter was sick, lying on the 
ground, and asked Wirz something, when 
Wirz shot him; Wirz remarked that he was 

killing more-Yankees there than Lee was 

at Richmond ; this was said in August; Wirz 
was at the time with the witness in the grave¬ 
yard, in the wagon with the dead men; the 
witness had seen men starved to death ; food 
was so scarce at one time that some of the j 
men picked up particles of food that had al-1 
ready passed through the system. 

On cross-examination by the defence the j 
witness said the grave-yard comprised twenty- 
five or thirty acres, and when lie left Ander¬ 
sonville, on the 11th of September last, it was ; 
about two thirds full. 

The Court, at one, took a recess until two j 
o’clock. 

On reassembling, the cross-examination of 
Davidson was renewed. He had never seen j 
Captain Wirz shoot more than one man. The j 
grave-diggers were Union soldiers. 

By the Court—The dead were buried about j 
two feet and a half deep; some were buried j 
with and some without clothing; he hadj 
never seen any of the dead Stripped before | 
they were buried; men were buried in trenches, j 
on one occasion, one hundred and fifty bodies! 
in a single trench. 

Captain J. H. Wright and Colonel Fanning.; 
formerly in the rebel service, testified as to« 
the signatures of General Winder and Captain 
Wirz to a consolidated return for August 
last, which was exhibited to them. 

Major Hosmer, Associate Judge-Advocate,; 
was sworn, and testified that he obtained the 
paper from the chief having custody of rebel i 
papers at the War Department. The paper’ 
was read in evidence, as follows: 

“ Consolidated Return for Confederate States) 

Military Prison, Camp Sumter, Anderson- 1 

ville, Georgia, for the month of August, 1864: 

Prisoners on hand on last of August, 1864, 
In camp, twenty-nine thousand nine hundr 
and eighty-five; in hospital, one thousand s 
hundred and ninety-three; total, thirty-o 
thousand six hundred and seventy-eigh 
Received from various places during August, 
three thousand and seventy-eight; recaptured, 
four ; total, three thousand and eighty-two • 
making in the aggregate thirty-four thousand 
seven hundred and sixty. Died during the 
month of August, two thousand nine hundred 
and ninety-three; sent to . other prisons 
twenty-three; exchanged, twenty-one; es 
caped, thirty ; making three thousand ant 
sixty-one, of all of which there are, on the 
thirty-first of August, in camp, twenty-nine 
thousand four hundred and seventy-three ; it 
hospital, two thousand two hundred anc 
twenty ; total, thirty-one thousand six hundrec 
and ninety-three. 







THE TRIAL. 


“ Tlie same complaint has to be made 
against the carelessness and inefficiency of the 
guard. Of the thirty prisoners, eleven escaped 
while on parole of honor not to escape as long 
as they would be employed to work outside. 
The balance of the nineteen escaped, some in 
bribing the sentinels with greenbacks, some 
simply walking off from the guard while re¬ 
turning from the place where the tools are 
deposited at night that are used on the stock¬ 
ade in the daytime ; perhaps twenty-fivemore 
escaped during ‘the month, but were taken up 
by the dogs before the daily return was made 
out, and for that reason they are not on the 
list of escaped nor recaptured. That only 
four were recaptured is owing to the fact that 
the guard nor the officers of the guard reported 
a man escaped. The roll-call in the morning 
showed a man missing, but it was too far 
gone to be tracked. As we have no general 
court-martial here, all such offences go un¬ 
punished, or nearly so. The worthlessness 
of the guard force is on the increase day by 
day. H. "VVirz, 

“ Captain Commanding Prison.” 

The indorsement on the paper is, “ Respect¬ 
fully forwarded to General S. Cooper, Adju¬ 
tant, and Inspector-General. 

“ John H. Winder, Brigadier-General. 

“ September 5, 1864.” 

Thomas Hall testified that he belonged to 
the marine corps, and was a prisoner at An- 
dersonville; he had charge of a squad of 
ninety prisoners, but only one out of the en¬ 
tire number survived ; they gave him another 
squad from the new stock; men died off rap¬ 
idly ; a good many sunk from exhaustion and 
starvation, and could not get up : Wirz threat¬ 
ened that if they did not rise he would blow 

the brains out of the -- Yankees: 

Wirz threatened to fire grape and canister 
into them; he had seen a man's leg that had 
almost been torn offby one of the hounds; men 
were vaccinated in their arms, and soon there¬ 
after sores appeared twice as large as a silver 
half dollar, and filled with maggots ; he heard 
a sentinel remark, after shooting a man, “ I’ll 
have a furlough of thirty days for that, and 
if I thought I could get a furlough for sixty 
days I would shoot another.” 

Dr. William Batzer testified that he acted 
in the United States army as assistant sur¬ 
geon ; when at Jacksonville he attended a 
number of the cases from Andersonville, and 
described the horrible condition of the suffer¬ 
ers ; the larger portion of them were mere 
skeletons; of three thousand three hundred 
of the released prisoners whom he saw at the 
place there were not two hundred who did 
not require medical treatment; that one half 
of those who survive will never be fit to re¬ 
sume their former occupations ; some of those 
affected with the scurvy were idiotic, and 
bones had to be removal from the jaws and 
other parts of the body of the sufferers. 

James Clancy, of the twenty-eighth New 
York, a prisoner at Andersonville, testified to 


61 

the shooting of men for crossing the dead-line, 
and to other facts previously established. 

Oliver B. Fairbanks, of the Ninth New York 
cavalry, testified that he was a prisoner at 
Libby, and afterward taken to Andersonville; 
the treatment at Libby was better in every, 
respect than it was at Andersonville. lie 
was examined on other points corroborating 
previous descriptions of the prison and its 
inmates. He said that Captain Wirz gener¬ 
ally saluted the men with, “ you Yankee 

sons of bitchesthe step-father of the witness 
was t in the prison, affected with scurvy ; was 
lying on the ground; could not straighten 
his arms; Wirz, approaching him, said, “ You 

-- Yankee son of a bitch, I won’t give you 

any thing to eat,” and stopped his rations for 
twenty-four hours; Wirz kicked his step¬ 
father, causing him great pain; the father of 
the witness died in prison about a month after 
the occurrence; this step-father made a state¬ 
ment to him about ten minutes before he 
died; the witness placed his hand on the pa¬ 
per and wrote what was now presented to the 
Court, as follows: 

a Camp Sumter, Andersonville, Georgia, 
August 27th, 1864.—Oliver :— I die from 
sheer starvation, and don’t for the world tell 
your mother of the awful condition which I 
am compelled to die in. * 

(Signed,) Richard Fairclough. 

The witness further testified that he refused 
to be vaccinated, when Captain Wirz cursed 
him and punished him by putting him in the 
chaimgang; in order to be released from the 
punishment he consented to be vaccinated, 
but when the vaccination was performed he 
washed the matter out with soap and water, 
and thus, escaped poisoning. He told others 
what he had done, and they washed out the 
poison in the same way. 

The Court adjourned till Tuesday. 

THIRD WEEK OF THE TRIAL—TUES- 
DAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington September 5. —The Wirz trial 
was resumed from Saturday. 

J. Nelson Clarke testified that he was taken 
as a prisoner to Andersonville about the 28th 
of May, 1864, and confirmed the previous evi¬ 
dence as to the crowded .and filthy condition 
of the stockade, the sufferings of the prisoners, 
the course, dirty, and insufficient amount of 
rations, &c. In August of the last year he 
counted one hundred and eighty-four dead 
men in the stockade. 

The witness mentioned the case of an 
insane soldier, who wandered up and down 
by the stream, refusing to wear clothes, and 
who* had not sense enough to know that he 
must cook his rations, and who ended his life 
by suicide. Another prisoner destroyed him¬ 
self by hanging, having previously declared 
that he would rather die than remain in the 
stockade. Forty-one men . in witness’ com¬ 
pany when captured were taken to Anderson- 





/ 


62 th'e 

ville; twenty-two of them died, principally at 
that prison; he Saw six men shot at different 
times, two of them he knew died; one of them 
extended his arm too far out over the dead¬ 
line while dipping water out of the stream, 
when the sentinel fired ; another of the pris¬ 
oners happened to get slightly beyond the 
dead-line; the sentinel fired, but instead of 
hitting him struck a man who was lying in 
a tent. The witness mentioned the circum¬ 
stances attending the shooting of the other 
four prisoners ; they crossed the dead-line ; he 
did not, however see or hear Captain Wirz 
give the order for shooting. 

Vincent Forney, of the seventy-second New 
York, who was a prisoner at Andersonville, 
having been conveyed there on the first of 
March, 1864, testified that while at Captain 
Wirz’s headquarters he heard Wirz give 
orders to have men put in the chain-gang, 
and to have irons placed round their feet, and 
also to the guard to shoot the first man who 
should ci;oss the dead-line; Wirz threatened 
to shoot any man who would not promptly 
fall into line. The witness testified he had 
seen the marks on the bodies of men bitten 
by the dogs, and described the- pitiable con¬ 
dition of one hundred and fifty men who had 
been vaccinated with a poisonous matter. 

On the cross-examination by the defence 
the witnesses said some of the men in the 
chain gang had previously attempted to es¬ 
cape. 

Edward P. Kellogg, one-hundred-and-twen- 
ty-ninth New York cavalry, testified that he 
saw four men shot for crossing the dead-line, 
and such shooting was quite a common oc¬ 
currence ; the witness was bucked for six 
hours because he had failed to report a man 
who had escaped, and another prisoner was 
bucked at the same time ; bucking consists in 
tying the wrists together, and then fastening 
the arms over the knees. 

Cross-examined by the defence—He never 
saw a man bucked in the United States army, 
although he had heard such things had been 
done; the reason why he was bucked was he 
did not comply with the rule for reporting 
those who attempted to escape. ■* 

Joseph R. Achuff, twenty-fourth Ohio regi¬ 
ment, a prisoner at Andersonville, testified 
that having gone out with a rebel ‘guard, he 
jumped on the rebel’s back, while the two 
risoncrs who accompanied him took away 
is gun ; hearing the dogs. in chase, he and 
his two companions scattered. The witness 
ran into a swamp and soon saw five hounds, and 
seven rebels, on horseoock ; the hounds were 
not taken off of him for fifteen minutes, du¬ 
ring which time he had to fight them with 
his fists ; he had nothing upon him but a 
pair of pantaloons, made of two rebel mail 
sacks; he still carried the marks of the biting 
on his legs; the horn was blown as a signal 
to tear the hounds off; he was taken before 
Captain Wirz, who ordered him to be put in 
the stocks ; he was exposed to the sun, though 
they pretended to give him shade; he was 


’ R I A L. 

thus punished for thirty-six hours, and during 
that time had only two drinks out of the 
muddy creek ; when he spoke to Wirz about 
this treatment, he was told to “ dry up, or he 
would have his brains blown out;” the witness, 
after being taken out of the stocks, was ironed, 
the rings passing around his ancles, and the 
legs separated by an iron bar eighteen inches 
long; the legs of the witness were sore and 
scurvy fell into them ; he w r as kept thirty-two 
days in irons by order of Captain Wirz; it 
was pretended that the irons were removed 
by direction of a rebel surgeon; the fact was. 
they were afraid of Sherman, and had a white 
flag hanging out all the time; this was in 
July, and when a squad of Sherman’s men 
were brought in, they were stripped of every 
thing except pants and shirt; even their but¬ 
tons w r ere split open, Wirz saying he had 
heard of money sometimes being stowed away 
in buttons ; the men were sent into the stock¬ 
ade, and Wirz said they were raiders, and 
ought to be hung; they belonged to Stone- 
man’s cavalry; Wirz struck a Michigan boy 
over the head with his revolver, the result of 
which was that the boy died of fits; the wit¬ 
ness said he saw-the man called Chickamauga 
killed ; the men had nick-named him “ mutton- 
head ;” he belonged to Illinois, and was silly, 
and had lost a leg; the boys having plagued 
him, he applied to Wirz to go on parole ; Wirz 
cursed him and threatened to blow his brains 
out; the man was at the time inside of the 
dead-line ; Wirz ordered the guard to blow 
his brains out; the guard fired, the shot strik¬ 
ing the man in the left side; the victim was 
carried out and died. 

The witness saw Wirz lay out the dead-line 
in April, 1864, and heard him give orders at 
that time if any man crossed the line to shoot 
him; the first night he went into the stock¬ 
ade, on the 20th of March, 1864, he saw Wirz 
kicking a poor skeleton around there, and 
heard Wirz cursing him; he named four offi¬ 
cers who also witnessed the same cruel oc¬ 
currence ; the squad of ninety men to which 
the witness was attached,’ being in toierably 
good physical condition, could stand up in 
line pretty well, but others could not; Wirz 
said he would not give the latter any thing to 
eat for forty-eight hours, and kept his word; 
on the 3d, 4th and 5th of July rations were 
cut off throughout the whole stockade, because 
some one had escaped ; the number of prison¬ 
ers there at the time was thirty five thousand ; 
on the 15th of July there was a great, crowd at 
the gate ; men trying to get out with the sick ; 
only one could pass out at a time; there were at 
that place two guards between the dead-line 
and the stockade ; Captain Wir? gave orders 
if any one stepped over the dead-line- to blow 
him through; the guard said he could not 
keep the crowd from encroaching upon the 
line; the sentinel at t*he time had the muzzle 
of his gun at the stomach of a fine-looking 
Pennsylvanian, when he was ordered to fire, 
and shot the man dead; whenever a man was 
wounded and carried to the hospital, he would 




THE TRIAL. 


63 


lever come back; George White, of German¬ 
town, Pennsylvania, belonging to the marine 
jorps, after being wounded, was carried off to 
die hospital; the young man requested him to 
Lell his mother he was not afraid to die; sub¬ 
sequently he saw White’s dead body at what 
ivas called the dead-house, where AVirz was 
in company witii two guards; witness asked 
liim whether he could not take a lock of his 
tiair ? “No.” said Wirz, “ If you do I’ll blow 

your-brains outabout one hundred and 

fifty of our prisoners were down the creek 
bathing; a woman on an eminence was seen 
to nod and wave her handkerchief to a sen¬ 
tinel. who fired and shot one of them in the 
head ; the sentinel for this obtained a furlough 
for thirty days; so he had been informed by 
a Georgia soldier. 

The witness described the character and 
suffering of the prisoners. He applied, to 
Wirz to have the filthy grease stopped from 
being thrown into.the stream, as the water 
was thus injured. Wirz replied that the 
water was good enough for Yankees, and 
that the witness did not deserve sucjti. 

AFTERNOON SESSION. 

After the recess, Achuff was cross-ex¬ 
amined by the defence. The witness was in the 
stockade six months, but was never in the 
hospital. As to the guard whom he and his 
two companions overpowered, and whose gun 
they took away, they did not hurt him, but 
only choked him a little. The guard ran 
back to the prison crying murder; he never 
heard or saw a soldier in our own army placed in 
irons. A half dozen other persons accom¬ 
panied Captain Wirz when the dead-line was 
laid out. 

The witness did not hear Wirz give orders 
for taking watches and other valuables from 
our prisoners, but saw him himself searching 
the men arid appropriating their possessions; 
the prisoners were stripped of clothing jackets, 
boots and hats in the presence of Captain 
Wirz; he had previously been robbed by 
General Wheeler of his pocket-book, con¬ 
taining thirty-five cents and three postage 
stamps; Major-General Hindman also robbed 
him, taking off his hat and placing it upon 
his own head. 

Daniel W. Bassenger testified when he and 
his companions were conveyed to Anderson- 
ville they werb during four hours exposed to 
the burning sun; some of the men were sun- 
truck, and Wirz, who was there, gave orders 
that if any stepped out of the line they should 
be shot; Wirz also said if any asked for water 
they should be shot, accompanying ^the 
remark with a denunciation of the——Yan¬ 
kees ; while men lay fainting, Wirz said if it 
was in his power he would make the victory 
complete; he saw a man shot early in July 
for getting water, although he was not over 
the dead-line, and another man was shot while 
lying in his tent; the rations of some sick men 
were stopped, and the witness shared his 


rations with them; three of them died namely, 
Hugh Lynch, Willi Am Riger, and William 
AVaterhouse, of the third Pennsylvania cav¬ 
alry ; the distress among the men was great; 
he had seen prisoners searching in the filth 
which had passed through men for the undi¬ 
gested particles of food, and for scraps from 
the jailor’s camp ; he had seen vegtablcs, such 
as potatoes, onions, peas, and also apples, 
peaches and melons, in the vicinity of the 
camp ; two men were buried inside the stock¬ 
ade ; the body of one of them, which had laid 
four days, was too much putrified to be taken 
out. 

Thbrnton B. Turrell, seventy-second Ohio 
regmient, testified that he was taken to An- 
defsonville on the 19th of June; AVirz threat¬ 
ened the men, using vile language and calling 

the men-Yankees; a man who showed 

Captain AA r irz his ration of corn bread, and 
asked whether better could not be furnished, 

was met with the response/'-you, I’ll 

give you bullets for bread;” there was not 
sufficient accommodation for one twentieth 
part of the prisoners. The swamp was more 
than a foot deep with human excrement, and 
this spoiled the -water in the wells; on one 
occasion he saw forty-six corpses in the dead- 
house, on another, seventy-five or a hundred ; 
the bodies were thrown into the creek like 
dead hogs, fifteen or twenty being a load; 
when the prisoners went there Wirz came 
forward and read the rules, saying the prison¬ 
ers would be shot if they entered the dead¬ 
line, and that any one speaking to a guard 
would be shot by the guard; AVirz also, 
if any of the Yankees traded with the guard, 
and did not get what they bargained for, and 
then complained to him, would say, “ Good 
for the Yankee, and bully for the guard;” 
they were also informed that if any of our 
men were found disturbing things the rations 
would be cut off until the perpetrators were 
found and punished; about the middle of 
March, when an exchange was talked of, 
some of our meii gave money to the guard; 
twenty dollars or less for the first chance. 

On the. cross-examination the witness said 
he did not know that Captain AVirz had for¬ 
bidden the acceptance of money. 

Robert ^lerton, belonging to a Pennsylva¬ 
nia regiment, testified that he had seen Cap¬ 
tain AVirz wearing shirts Sent to our prison¬ 
ers by the Sanitary Commission; it was a 
common thing for our men to be put in the 
chain gang, and he had never seemthe stocks 
empty ; lie saw one man receive sevqnty-five 
lashes for .carrying onions into the hospital; 
saw AVirz kick a sick man, and heard the 
dying statement of a black man who was shot 
in the back; a young man was shot by a 
guard, who.said he would shoot another if he 
could get sixty days furlough; Wirz remarked 
if he could have his own way, not twenty-four 
men on the Southside would get away either 
by exchange or parole. 

On being croSs-examined the witness said, 
rations were stopped because some of the 




THE TRIAL. 


64 

men, twenty-five of them, had been engaged 
in digging a tunnel, in order to make their 
escape; the tunnel was dug with tin plates, 
oyster shells, and whatever the men could 
get. 

Frank Mattox, colored, belonging to the 
thirty-fifth United States, testified that after 
he received his wounds in the head and foot, 
he was put to work at the prison; a colored 
man was whipped with two hundred and fifty 
lashes ; he was stripped naked, and laid upon 
a log, and whipped all over; the man was 
afterward ironed; he related -the circum¬ 
stance of a man who had blackened his face, 
and mixed with the gang of colored man, in 
order to make his escape; the man was dis¬ 
covered and whipped, Wirz saying as the man 
blacked himself to be a negro, he would give 
him the negro’s law, namely, thirty-nine 
lashes; the witness had seen twelve men to¬ 
gether in the chain-gang for an entire week; 
he had seen a man torn by the dogs in a 
shocking manner; the man was nearly dead, 
and was put in the stocks; a couple of days 
after the witness buried the man; this was in 
September, 1864; Wirz, while in the grave¬ 
yard \fith several other officers, said “We 
have given the Yankees the land they came 
to fight for,” meaning six feet of ground; this 
was in' October; Wirz, with some of the 
doctors who were with him in the grave-yard, 
looking at corpses whose skulls had been 
sawed off, and green appearance of the bodies 
which had been vaccinated, laughed at the 
sight exhibited, and the killing of the men; 
he had seen thirteen of the boxes sent by the 
Sanitary Commission, and Wirz had on one 
of the shirts and pair of pantaloons. 

Cross-examined by the defence—The wit¬ 
ness had seen four or five of the colored 
prisoners whipped with thirty-nine lashes. 
The trenches were seven feet long and three 
feet deep; the dead men were laid side by 
side, with faces up, and the earth thrown in.. 
A Confederate sergeant superintended the 
burial, and gave instructions to pack the 
bodies in close, which was decently done; 
there were no coffins nor boards with which 
to make them. 

By the Court.—The doctors in the grave¬ 
yard with Captain Wirz were speaking about 
the shocking effects of the vaccination, when 

Wirz said, “Yes,- them, we gave them 

the land*they came to fight for.” 

The Court adjourned till to-morrow. 

WEDNESDAY'S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, September 6.— After the 
record of yesterday had been read, Mr. Baker 
remarked that on looking over the testimony 
he was so much impressed that a great deal 
of it was illegal that he now asked the Court 
when they came to examine it to treat it 
accordingly. This applied to two thirds of 
the testimony, and a motion in a civil Court 
t-o strike it out would be granted. But as 
nothing could be stricken out of the record 


of a military Court, he would ask that th: 
Court discard the illegal testimony. 

Assistant Judge-Advocate Hosmer said 
was proper that the reasons for the reques 
should be stated. 

Mr. Baker replied that he noticed in sever; 
pages of the testimony where the Judge-Adv< 
cate asked a leading question and the witness! 
said “Yes,” or “No.” Another reason wa; 
the witnesses, after thus replying to th 
questions, would add rumors or hearsay 
which had nothing legally to do with th; 
case, or as affecting the prisoner. 

Assistant Judge-Advocate Hosmer pr« 
sumed that a Court, constituted like this, wa 
capable of judging what was and what wa 
not testimony. 

Mr. Baker supposed he had a right t 
object to what was wrong, and to exercise th 
same privilege that he would in a civil Cour 

The official reporters made a minute of M; 
Baker’s suggestions. 

Joseph Adler testified as to instances o 
suffering of the sick similar to those heret< 
fore narrated by other witnesses; he mei 
tioned the case of a man who had bee 
assailed by the dogs; the throat had bee 
torn to pieces, and the blood was runnin 
from the wounds; Wirz, Drs. White an 
Stevenson, and others, were near the man 8 
the time; they did not seem to have an 
compassion for him ; Wirz said it “ Served th 

-man right;” the man died on the spot 

the same day some of the prisoners had bee 
digging a tunnel with a view to escape; on 
of their number betrayed them, saying t 
Captain Wirz that he would communicat 
good news if the captain would give hir 
something to eat; Wirz promised to do s( 
and came with six others to fill up the tunnel 
Wirz carried a loaf of corn bread under hi 
arm to give to the informer; a man almos 
dead with the diarrhoea, seeing Wirz, got u 
from the ground and said, “ Please give m 
something to eat, I have been too sick to g 
for my food;” Wirz had a riding whip in hi 
hand, with which he struck the man over th 
head; the man went into fits, and was take; 
to the hospital; two days after that he died 
the witness had seen men suffering in th 
stocks; of the seventy-one men who accoir 
panied him to the prison, all excepting twelv 
died; on one occasion he saw W r irz with : 
sentinel; a man having crossed the dead-line 
Wirz asked the sentinel why he did not shoot 
and instructed him to shoot whether the mai 
was over the dead-line or not; he further sail 
if the sentinel did not shoot he would hav 
him punished; the sentinel then shot th' 
man, the ball taking effect in the breast; thi 
prisoners near by conveyed the wounded mai 
to the hospital. 

The witness confirmed the statements con 
cerning the shooting of the one-legged mai 
called “ Cliickamauga;” He was cross-exam 
ined by the counsel for the defence. 

William H. Jennings, a negro soldier belong 
ing to the eighth United States, testified tha 





THE TRIAL. 


65 


the wound which he received in his left thigh 
was not dressed after he was taken to Ander- 
s-onville; he was whipped in the month of 
March, 1864, for not going to work ; this was 
by order of Captain Wirz; a month after he 
was imprisoned he was not able to work, 

. having caught a heavy cold by working in the 
' swamp; the man Turner, who had charge of the 
dogs-, whipped him, giving him thirty lashes 
on the bare back; he was then put in the 
stocks for a night and a day, with nothing to 
eat or drink; after being released, he was 
again put in the stockade ; he could not walk; 
when in the hospital the witness saw a man 
who had been shockingly bitten in the head 
by the dogs, and who died soon after. 

Cross-examination—The witness said he 
was captured at Oluskee; > his wound was 
never* dressed, but healed up. 

Thomas N. Way, belonging to an Ohio 
regiment, said while at Andersonville he was 
punished for fifteeen minutes by being tied 
by the thumbs and held up, his toes barely 
touching the ground; he attempted to escape, 
and was captured; encountering Wirz, the 
latter said, “Well; you’re back again;” the 
witnes* replied, “I guess so;” when Wirz 
continued, “ I’m going to take care of you 
this time; I’ll put you in the stocksthe 
witness said, in a joke, after that was over, 
“ I’d rather be carried than walkwhen 

Wirz replied, “You-, 

if you give me any more of your lip I’ll shoot 
you;” Wirz then put him in the stocks four 
days longer; his head and feet were fastened 
in the. stocks, his back on the ground, and his 
face exposed to the sun; the punishment was 
inflicted because he attempted to escape; he 
knew personally about the hounds; he had been 
captured by them three or four times; a 
young fellow, named Freddy, seventeen years 
old, was caught by the foot, and afterward 
torn all to atoms by the dogs. 

The witness and another companion in the 
escaping party climbed a tree, but they were 
caught and brought back; this was in the 
latter part of August, 1864; Turner, who was 
with the hounds, said, “Good for you, you 

-of-; I wish the dogs had torn all 

all of you to pieces;” the witness said he was 
bucked, and didn’t know but/that he deserved 
it, for being late at roll-call. He explained at % 
gome length bucking and gagging, and gave 
his experience in the ^hain-gang. In Sep¬ 
tember, 1864, while forming line, a sick man 
could not find his place, and ran up to the 
head of the line, where he was met by Wirz, 

with the exclamation: “You-Yankee 

—— of a-, if you don’t get in the ranks 

I’ll shoot you;” he struck the man with his 
revolver and knocked him some feet; the man 
being weak could not get up; this was the 
only time he saw Wirz use his pistol; the 
witness was in ball and chain, with four others, 
for twenty-five days, for attempting to make 
his escape. 

The Court, at one, took a recess till two 
o’clock. 


When the Court reassembled, John H. 
Stearns testified that shots were frequently 
fired into the stockade by the sentinels; he 
saw, on August 5th, men who had received 
gunshot wounds and were sent to the hospital, 
and described the shocking condition ot the 
prisoners who were placed in the hospital, 
some of whom were almost naked; and h@ 
remembered one case especially where the 
most offensive filth ■ had got between the 
man’s clothes and his skin, penetrating his 
nose, month, and rectam, causing him intense 
pain, as was evident from his actions; the 
man was delirious, and died; many others 
became delirious from disease; amputation 
was frequently performed, resulting almost 
invariably in death; he did not remember 
any cases of recovery where amputation had 
been performed; the effect of the vaccinate 
was syphilis,^some cases as marked in their 
character as that disease itself. 

Alexander Kennell, who w r as a prisoner at 
Andersonville, testified he had seen men with 
hall and chain, and had seen them bucked 
and gagged, and in the stocks; a man who 
belonged to a Pennsylvania regiment, about 
the 15th of February, was put in the stocks 
at four o’clock in the afternoon, and was 
brought back to the stockade at nine o’clock ; 
the man did not eat any thing after he came 
in, and told him he had been chilled thor¬ 
oughly ; the man soon died, in consequence of 
the exposure to the weather; another man, 
to his knowledge, died from injuries received 
in the chain-gang. 

William Willis Scott testified to the cruelty 
of Captain Wirz. In the latter part of 
August, a sick man, sitting on a bank, asked 
Captain Wirz to be sent to the hospital, 
when the latter cursed the invalid, and struck 
him a violent blow over the head; the man 
went into his tent and died a day or two after. 
The witness mentioned another case, where 
one of the guard threw a brickbat and struck 
Wirz on the shoulder. Wirz, without stop¬ 
ping to make inquiry, drew his revolver and 
shot a Union man. 

L.. H. Pond, of the second New York 
heavy artillery, testified that he took the 
names of men who had been robbed of blank¬ 
ets and canteens at Andersonville; the wit¬ 
ness saw Wirz take the picture of a lady and 
two children from a Michigan soldier, and 
throw the photograph on the ground and 
tramp it beneath his heel; the soldier’s wife 
was dead, and this was all he had to remember 
her with; another picture was taken from a 
young man; it was that of the lady he was 
waiting upon; it was passed around; the 
rebel officer making vulgar remarks about, 
it, the young man asked that the picture be 
returned to him, but the rebel officer retained 
it, and, pulling out his revolver, threatened to 
shoot him; the witness mentioned cases of 
shooting men at the dead-line, of hound* 
being sent out after prisoners, and of Wirz’s 
cruelty to a sick man. 

Rufus Monday, seventy-fifth Ohio, testified 










66 


THE TRIAL. 


that on the 22d of February he saw Wirz pick 
up a brickbat and with it strike a sick man 
on the lower part of the ear; and on the 10th 
of March he kicked a young man who had sat 
down, and whose nose and mouth bled in con¬ 
sequence of the assault. 

Abner A. Kelly, fortieth Ohio, testified 
that when he and his fellow prisoners were 
taken to Andersonville they were robbed of 
their blankets, canteens, and watches, which 
were removed to Captain Wirz’s headquarters; 
they were never returned to their owners; a 
crazy man having been shot, the sentry was 
asked why he did so, when he replied he was 
acting under orders of Captain Wirz; the 
latter, on being asked by a prisoner whether 
he expected the men to live with such usage 
and unwholesome food as was shown to him, 

replied, “ It is good enough for you- 

Yankees;” the prisoner, in August, 1864, 
Raw a sick man at the gate, with a sore 
on him as large as the crown of his hat, filled 
with maggots, and fly-blown; the man had 
been at the gate twenty-four hours; the ser¬ 
geant asked Captain Wirz to have the man 
carried to the hospital; “ No,” said Wirz, “ let 
him lie there and diethe man was afterward 
carried out a corpse. 

Sydney Smith, fourteen^ Connecticut, saw. 
Wirz knock a man down with his revolver; 
another man, who was sick, received a severp 
bayonet wound; almost every time a sentry 
shot a man he was relieved on thirty davs 
furlough. 

Goodfeldt Brunner, fourteenth Connecticut, 
testified the prisoners were treated well until 
Captain Wirz assumed command of the 
prison ; Wirz used to come into the stockade 
every morning, and if one man was missing, 
the whole detachment would be deprived of 
food until he was accounted for; the witness 
being sick one day, -was not at morning roll- 
call ; Wirz came into his tent and called him 

a Yankee - ——, drew his revolver, and 

threatened to kill him on the spot; the witness 
replied it would be better if Wjrz would kill 
him ; whereupon Wirz kicked him out of bed; 
some ladies who had assembled at the gate 
asked our men what they came there to fight 
for ? One of the prisoners made them a 
speech, at which they became angry ; Wirz 

coming up, said, “Get away, you - 

Yankees; I’ve got enough powder and ball to 
kill all of you.” 

Thomas A. Howe testified as to the blankets, 
coats, watches, money, &c., having been taken 
away from the prisoners and handed, to Wirz; 
when the prisoners arrived at Andersonville 
it was difficult for him to find a place to lie 
on, the ground being so thickly covered w'ith 
prisoners ; he could not at first sleep, owing to 
the wounds and groans of the sick; when he 
woke in the morning he saw dead men all 
around him. 

The above-named witnesses were cross- 
examined. 

Ihe Court, at four o’clock, adjourned till 
tor-morrow. 


THURSDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, September 7. —The record o 
yesterday having been read, Bernard Colic 
gan, second Ohio regiment, testified as to th 
shooting and killing of five or six LJnio] 
prisoners in the stockade-, during July an< 
August, 1864. One of the men was in tin 
act of washing his clothes, and another wa 
trading boots with his guard. Wirz strucl 
the witness for not answering to his name 
which was incorrectly called, and then tiex 
his arms and legs together with his own hands 
fastening them with a stick; he was kept ii 
that position two hours and a half. The wit 
ness had seen a man who was badly bitten bj 
the hounds. 

Cross-examined by Mr. Baker.—H(* was 
present at the hanging of the six raiders b) 
our own men ; he had nothing to do frith th< 
trial of the raiders; the time he was bucket 
was on the 17th of May, for no other ofienct 
than that he failed .at roll-call to answer to s 
wrong name. 

John W. Case, forty-seventh New Yorl 
regiment, testified that on the 17th pf Sep 
tember those who were sick and woundec 
were told that if they could get to the depot 
without assistance they might do so; the) 
were to be exchanged. The witness coulc 
not readily get into the car with his crutches 

when Wirz called him - Yankee —— 

--, and threatened to blow his brains out 

Somebody shot at him previously, but strucl 
another person; he was not near the deac 
line. The sentinel called out, “Halt, Yank 
I’m going to shoot;” he saw four or five shot 
one of them was trying to build a fire, anc 
the other was taking down the corners of bis 
blanket; the latter was shot in the head 
shooting men was a common occurrence, 
every night; he frequently heard men ervinja 
“murder.” J 

Cross-examined by Mr. Baker.—The wit¬ 
ness heard a sentinel say that he received o 
furlough of thirty days for every Yankee lue 
killed; he knew men were shot during the 
night, because he saw the bodies the" next 
morning. , 

Q. Captain Wirz never hurt you ? A. No. 

Q. He only threatened you? A. That’s 
what’s the matter. (Laughter.) 

^ Edward Richardson, a resident of Albany, 
Georgia, for twenty-IJlree years, testified, that 
place is forty-five miles from Andersonville; 
he was at Andersonville every month in the 
year of 1864, until August; there was a good 
corn crop in 1864, but not much wheat; there 
were many sweet potatoes; in 1864 a largo 
wheat crop was planted, but the rain de¬ 
stroyed it; the plantations in the vicinity of 
Andersonville were large, and farmers raised 
vegetables for their owm use. 

Cross-examined by Mr. Baker.—The wit¬ 
ness saw in the two warehouses at Anderson¬ 
ville considerable bacon, syrup, and corn 
| meal; there was not much garden truck in 
1864; there was difficulty in obtaining seed. 





THE TRIAL. 


Mr. Baker said this was one of the wit- 
esses for the defence, and would not be used 
nv further at present. 

By the Court—It is a corn-growing- coun¬ 
ty; there was a good crop in 1864, and 
lore corn was planted than in any previous 
ear. * 

Charles T. Williams, first New Jersey cav- 
!ry, testified that the medical treatment was 
etter under Dr. Clayton, the post-surgeon, 
ban under his predecessors, Drs. White and 
tevenson. He had seen two men shot in the 
tockade, and one in the hospital; he did not 
now the month, but shooting was a common 
ccurrence; Chickamauga was among those 
filed, and also another cripple, who had ap- 
•roached the guard for the purpose of 
fading; some of the clothing sent >by the 
ianitary Commission was distributed to the 
risoners in one of the hospital wards, while 
lankets and pants were appropriated by the 
ebels. 

Cross-examined by Mr. Baker—Had seen 
laptain Wirz interfere with a man in the hos- 
ital, but he used no personal violence ; a Con- 
;derate sutler brought Irish and sweet pota- 
oes and green corn into the stockade, and 
ook them to another sutler, one of our 
risoners; if our men could not buy them 
hey had to go without; a Yankee was not 
llowed to enter the storehouse at Anderson- 
ille; but looking in he saw goods and 
froceries piled up. 

Mr. Baker said the prisoner was unwell to- 
ay, suffering with pain3 in the head and 
reast, and troubled with bowel complaint, 
f the Court could now adjourn for the re- 
nainder of the day it would be a great favor 
o him. 

The Court at one o’clock adjourned, Major- 
leneral Wallace saying that the prisoner 
rould receive medical attendance. 

FRIDAY'S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, Sept. 8-—The Wirz trial 
ras resumed this morning. 

Judge Advocate Chipman read the Com- 
aission the following letter from the priso- 
Ler : 

Old Capitol Prison,Washington, D. C., 
iept. 8,1865.—Colonel N. P. Chipman, Judge 
Advocate: You will, I hope, excuse my 
berty to address you these lines, but not 
no wing to whom to appeal I refer the matter 
e yoit. I am now a prisoner since the 7th 
ay of May, 1865. I have been deprived of 
11 the chances to receive the consolations of 
eligion even necessary to anybody, and truly 
lore so to a man charged with crimes so 
einous, so terrible, that the mere thought of 
hem makes me shudder. 

Although I know myself full well that I 
m wrongfully accused, that an all-seeing, all¬ 
nowing God knows my innocence, still I 
eed some encouragement from others not to 
ink under the heavy burden which is placed 
pon me. Under these circumstances I most 


61 

respectfully ask that permission be granted 
to Rev. Fathers Wheelan and Hamilton to 
visit me, and administer such spiritual com¬ 
forts as my unfortunate position requires. 
They are both men of integrity, and will not 
profit by the occasion to see or do any tiling 
but what their duties as ministers of the Gos¬ 
pel will permit. Hoping that this, my hum¬ 
ble request, may be favorably received, and 
the permission be granted, I remain, colonel, 
most respectfully, your obedient servant, 
(Signed) H. Wirz. 

Colonel Chipman said that the reverend 
gentlemen mentioned were here, as witnesses 
.for the prosecution. They were Roman 
^Catholic chaplains at Andersonville in the 
summer of 1864. He did not think they 
would abuse the privilege asked. The Court 
certainly had no objection to the request, but 
they had no power to grant the permission, as 
the prisoner was not in their custody. Colonel 
Chipman said he would then refer the com¬ 
munication to the War Department for its 
action thereon. 

IVtajor-General Thomas remarked that if 
the^prisoner was more ill than he was yester¬ 
day, it might be a question whether they 
could not get along better by granting a little 
respite. It might be desirable to have a day’s 
rest. 

Assistant Judge-Advocate Hosmer said— 
So far as comfort was concerned the prisoner 
was as well off here as he would be in prison. 
If he was not able to sit up he could lie down. 
If he was not able to lie down, but required 
medical attendance all the time, of course the 
trial could not go on. This room, he re¬ 
peated, has more ventilation, and is certainly 
preferable to the prison. 

The Court, in reply to the suggestion of a 
member, said it would not be proper to put 
on the face of the paper an indorsement of 
the approval of the Court, but there was no 
doubt the request would be granted. 

Lieutenant Prescott Tracy testified as to 
his experience and observations as a prisoner 
at Andersonville; he never saw Captain 
Wirz shoot a man, but heard him give the 
order to shoot a man named Robert A. Tresh- 
fish, or Newcomer; not knowing the rule$ the 
latter went to get a drink from thS stream ; 
the banks being muddy he went within six 
inches of the dead-line, when Wirz hallooed 
to the sentinel and asked why he didn't shoot 

the-; the sentinel fired, the ball 

going into the top of the head and coming out 
of the back of the neck, and the man died; 
this was in August, 1864; some men died 
from the effects of being put in the stocks, 
and from the consequent exposure to the 
weather; Captain Wirz never gave the pris¬ 
oners a good word ; the witness having asked 
the prisoner for better rations, the latter 
replied he “would race the witness into- 

Cross-examined by Mr. Baker—Never 
knew of a prayer-meeting or the reading of 
the Bible on Sunday. 

The witness was further interrogated, coun- 

* » 

* 




THE TEIAL 


.88 * 

*el wishing to show that the stocks were 
never erected witjain the stockade. There was 
no means of telling one day or one hour from 
another, all the watches, having been taken 
away by “ our worthy friend.” 

Question—Do you mean to say you don’t 
know of a watch being in the prison ? 

Assistant Judge-Advocate Hosrner ob¬ 
jected to thus resuming the examination in 
chief, and the point was sustained. 

William Krouse, seventh Pennsylvania 
reserves, testified that he saw Captain Wirz 
knock a man down; knew that a man who 
had been in the stocks died the day after being 
relieved; stated the particulars attending the 
shooting of five men at as many different 
times; the. sentry said “ shoot the --.” 

Colonel Chipman said he now proposed to 
introduce some documentary evidence, to 
show that the Department at Richmond had 
knowledge of the condition of the prison at 
Andersonville in May last. 

Captain C. M. Selph, who was in the Con¬ 
federate States army, and four years in the 
Adjutant-General’s and Inspector’s Depart¬ 
ment, identified the handwriting of Gen¬ 
eral Howell Cobb in . the following letter, 
namely: * , 

Headquarters Georgia Reserves, Macon, 
Ga., May 5th, 1864.—General S. Cooper, Ad¬ 
jutant-General, Richmond, Va.—General: 
Under your orders to inform myself of the 
condition of the prison at Andersonville, with 
a view of furnishing from the reserve corps 
the necessary guard for its protection and 
safety, I made a visit there, and have just re¬ 
turned, and now submit the result of my ex¬ 
amination. There are now in the prison about 
twelve thousand prisoners, in an area of less 
than eighteen acres, with a stockade around 
it about fifteen feet high. I presume the 
character of the prison is well understood at 
Richmond, and therefore give no description 
of it. The danger of the prisoner’s escaping 
is not so great as I have supposed. With a 
a guard of twelve hundred men, four pieces 
of artillery, and a cavalry company, all appre 
hensions of escape would be quieted. 

I have arranged to send two regiments of 
* infantry there within the next week, which, 
with the detatc.hed companies of Col. Parson’s 
regiment, will be an ample infantry force. 
Captain Gamble’s battery is there, but I would 
recommend that it be returned to Florida, 
apd Captain Tiller’s battery be sent in its 
place. The reason mainly for this recom¬ 
mendation is that Captain Gamble’s battery 
is very well supplied with horses, and they 
are not needed at Andersonville, whereas, 
Captain Tiller’s horses have been so reduced 
that he is unable to move his battery in the 
field ; the exchange of these batteries would be 
of a decided advantage to the service. I rec¬ 
ommend the cavalry company because its 
» presence would have a salutary effect in re¬ 
straining the prisoners from any attempt to 
escape knowing the means arc at hand to 


pursue them, and in the event of the esca; 
of any considerable number, the caval 
would be absolutely necessary to their sr 
cessful pursuit. 

I took the liberty of making several su 
gestions for rendering the prison more secui 
and if the tools could be had, I would recoi 
mend that the entire prison grounds shou 
be surrounded by fortifications, which cou 
be put up by the troops, whose health wou 
be promoted by the employment. The mo 
important change is the one suggested in tl 
accompanying report of my chief surgeo 
Dr. Eldridge, that is the erection of a liopit 
building outside of the prison; upon that poi: 
there cannot be two opinions among intel 
gent men. It ought to be done at once, ai 
such is the opinion of every sensible man th 
has examined the prison. The prison is : 
ready too much crowded, and no addition 
prisoners should be sent there until it can 1 
enlarged. The effect of increasing the numb 
within the present area must be a terrible i 
crease of sickness and death during the sui 
mer months, 

I understand that an order has been giv< 
for enlarging the prison. If it was possifc 
to make another prison it would be mu< 
better, for I doubt very much whether tl 
■water will be sufficient for the accommodate 
of the increased number of prisoners. T3 
general management of the prison under C< 
Parsons is good, and he manifests a laudab 
desire to discharge his duties in the most ei 
cient manner. The duties of the inside coi 
mand are admirably performed by Capta 
Wirz, whose place it would be difficult to fi 
I still think the rank of the commanding offic 
of the pos,t should be a brigadier-general. ' 
view of the number of troops that will 
under his command, it seems to me he shou 
have that superior rank over those who m; 
be ordered to report to him. I take 1 
liberty of inclosing a copy of Dr. Eldridgi 
report. I am General, very respectfully, 

Howell Cobb, 
Major-General Commanding, ei 

Dr. Eldridge’s report is dated Macon, G 
May 6,1864, and is addressed to Major Lam 
Cobb, of the Georgia reserve corps. Spec 
ing of his visit to the camp at Anderson-vil 
under instructions from General Cobb, ! 
says he found the prisoners in his opinic 
too much crowded for the promotion, or ev 
continuance of their present health, partic 
larly during the approaching summer montl 
The condition of the Belle Island prisone 
on their arrival, was such as to require me 
attention to their diet and cleanliness than 
the actual administration, of medicines, ve 
many of .them suffering from chronic di; 
rlioea, combined with the scorbutic dispositic 
with extreme emaciation as the coiisequem 
The hospital being within the inclosure, it h 
been found impracticable to administer su 
diet, and give them such attention as they 
quire, as unless constantly watched, such d 




69 


THE TH life 


is,, is prepared for them is *Vwlen and eaten by 
he other prisoners. In consequence of ' the 
;tate of affairs generally, he suggests various 
improvements, and the writer pays a compli¬ 
ment to Dr. White’s medical ministration. 

The following paper was also put in evi¬ 
dence : 

Camp Sumptep., Andersonville, Ga., May 
5, 1864.—Major : I have the honor to make 
the following report in regard to the Confed¬ 
erate States military prison at this post. I 
was assigned to the command of the prison by 
Col. A. W. Parsons, the commandant of the 
post, on the 27th of March, 1864, having re¬ 
ported to him for duty by order of General 
J.H. Winder, commanding Confederate States 
prisoners.. I found the prison in a bad condi¬ 
tion, owing to the want of tools, such as axes, 
spades and lumber, to erect proper buildings. 
The first commandant of the post, Captain 
W. S. Winder, and his successor, Colonel A. 
W. Parsons, had left nothing untried to sup¬ 
ply theke so important articles. 

Only two weeks ago 1 received axes, spades, 
&c., from Columbus, Ga., and went to work 
cutting ditches, &c. 1 hope to have every 

thing in the interior of the prison completed 
in two weeks. The bakery, which could not 
be completed for want of lumber, is now in 
operation. The necessity of enlarging the 
stockade is unavoidable. I shall commence 
as soon as I can gather a sufficient number of 
negroes. I would most respectfully ask you 
to present td the authorities at Richmond the 
impediment thrown in my way by having the 
hospitals inside of the prison. 

The number of prisoners on the first day 
pf April was seven thousand one hundred 
tmd sixty. I received up to to-day from 
various points, five thousand seven hundred 
and eighty-seven ; recaptured, seven. Total, 
twelve thousand nine hundred and fifty-four. 
The number of dead from - the 1st of April 
to 8th of May, is seven hundred and twenty- 
eight, and escaped thirteen, leaving on hand 
twelve, thousand two hundred and thirteen. 
I consequently lpst six prisoners. I would 
also call your attention to the danger of hav¬ 
ing our present guard forces withdrawn, and 
their places supplied by the reserve forces of 
Governor Brown. 

In conclusion, allow me to make a few re¬ 
marks concerning myself; lam here in a 
very unoleasant position, growing out of the 
•rank which I now hold, and suggest the pro¬ 
priety of being promoted. Having the full 
control of the prison, and consequently, ot 
the daily prison guard, the orders which I 
have to give are very often not obeyed with 
the promptness the occasion requires, and I 
am of the opinion that it eminates from the 
reluctance of obeying an officer who holds the 
same rank as they do. My duties are mani¬ 
fold, and require all my time in daytime, and 
very often part of the night, and 1 would 
most respectfully ask that two commissioned 
officers (lieutenants) would be assigned to me 
for duty. 


I am, Major, most respectfully, your obedi¬ 
ent servant, H: Wire, 

Captain Commanding prison. 
Major Thomas Turner, 0. S. A. 

The following letter was also offered in evi¬ 
dence :— 

Gamp Sumpter, Andersonville, Ga., July 
21,1864.—General S. Cooper, Adjutant and 
Inspector-General.—General: Your indorse¬ 
ment on the letter of Lieutenant S. R. Davis 
relating to the strength of the guard at this 
post, contains a very severe censure, which I 
am sure would not have been made if you had 
a clear comprehension of this post, of its 
wants and its difficulties. Reflect for a mo¬ 
ment. Twenty-nine thousand two hundred 
and one prisoners of war, many of them most, 
desperate characters ; a post a mile long by a 
mile wide. The stockade for prisoners within 
one hundred and sixty-yards of a mile in cir¬ 
cumference ; numerous avenues leading to the 
post to be guarded, public property to be 
cared for, guards for working parties, and the 
ordinary camp grounds for the troops, and 
you can form some estimate of the number 
it would require for these purposes. 

The following are the daily guards required, < 
and they cannot be reduced, but ought to be 
increased: Stockade, sixteen hundred 5 r ards 
around, fifty-two posts, ten supernumeraries,, 
one hundred and sixty-six enlisted men, two 
commissioned officers. Hospitals, two unin¬ 
closed, one thousand seven hundred and thirty- 
five patients and attendants, guards seventy- 
three. Twenty-three posts, sixty-nine men four 
supernumeraries and one commissioned offi¬ 
cer. Pickets around the stockade, two hundred 
and six ; this picket is indispensable, to pre 
vent escape by tunneling. Outlying pickets 
and railroad bridge guard, forty-three men 
* and six commissioned officers. Guard with 
party cutting wood, daily, qnd hundred. 
Guard with' working parties, twenty-five; this 
does not include accidental guards and camp 
guards. Total, five hundred and thirteen. 
Strength of guard July 2, four hundred and 
twenty-one, including the prisoners’ guard de¬ 
tained here, from which deduct five hundred 
and seventeen sick, daily duty two hundred 
and twenty-seven, and the artillery company, 
on.e hundred and twenty-six—eight hundred 
and seventy ; leaves one thousand five hun¬ 
dred and fifty one. 

You will pbserve that since Lieutenant 
Davis' report the detained prisoners guard 
have been added to the strength Of the guard. 
This gives the most favorable report at this 
post and the duties required of it. You 
speak in your indorsement of placing the 
prisoners properly. I do not exactly com¬ 
prehend what is intended by it. 1 know of 
but one way to place them, and that is to put 
them into the stockade, where they have be¬ 
tween four and five square yards to the man. 
This includes streets and two acres of ground 
about the stream. Respectfully your obedi¬ 
ent servant, John H. Winder, 

Brigadier-General. 





70 


THE TRIAL. 


A letter was also read in evidence from 
Acting-Adjutant and Inspector-General Chan¬ 
dler, dated Andersonville, July 5, 1864, ad¬ 
dressed to Colonel R. IJ. Chilton, assistant- 
adjutant and inspector-general at Richmond. 
He gives an account of his inspections of the 
prison for Federal prisoners of war and post 
Andersonville. He says that under the pres¬ 
sure of their necessities, they have dug num¬ 
erous wells within the inclosure, from which 
they obtain an ample supply of water to 
drink, of good quality, excepting the edges 
of the stream. The soil is sandy and easily 
drained, but from thirty to fifty yards on each 
side of it the ground is a muddy marsh, to¬ 
tally unfit for occupation, and having been 
constantly used as a sink since the prison was 
first established. 

It is now in a shocking condition, and can¬ 
not fail to breed pestilence. An effort is 
made by Captain Wirz to fill up the marsh 
and construct a sluice, the upper end to be 
used for bathing, etc*., the lower as a sink; 
but the difficulty of procuring lumber and 
tools very much retards the work, and threat¬ 
ens soon to stop it. No shelter whatever, nor 
* materials for constructing any, have been 
provided by the prison authorities, and the 
ground being entirely bare of trees, none is 
within reach of the prisoners, nor has it been 
possible, from the over crowded state of the 
inclosure, to arrange the camp with any 
system. 

Each man has been permitted to protect 
himself as best he can, by stretching his 
blanket, or whatever he may have, above 
him, on such sticks as he can procure. Of 
other shelter there has been none. There is 
no medical attendance within the stockade. 
Many—twenty yesterday—are carted out 
daily, who have died fro<n unknown causes,* 
and whom the medical officers have never 
seen. The dead are hauled out daily by the 
wagon load, and buried without coffins ; their 
hands, in many instances, being first mutilated 
with an axe in the removal of any finger 
rings they may have. Raw rations have to 
be issued to a very large portion, who are en¬ 
tirely unprovided with proper utensils, and 
furnish so limited a supply of fuel they are 
compelled to dig with their hands in the filthy 
marsh before mentioned for roots, etc. No 
soap or clothing has ever been issued. 

After inquiry the writer is confident that 
by slight exertions green corn and other anti- 
sorbutics could readily be obtained; the 
present hospital arrangements were only in¬ 
tended for the accommodation of ten thou¬ 
sand men, and are totally insufficient both in 
character and extent for the present needs, 
the number of prisoners being now more than 
three times as great. The number of cases 
requring medical treatment is on an increased 
ratio. It is impossible to state the number 
of sick, many dying within the stockade 
whom the medical officers never saw nor. 
heard of till their remains arc brought out 
for interment. The transportation of the 


post is also represented to be entirely insuffi. 
cient, and authority is needed by the quftr- 
termaster to impress wagons and teams, and 
saw mills, when not employed by the Gov¬ 
ernment and kept diligently occupied, and in¬ 
structions given to the quartermaster in 
charge of transportation to afford every facil¬ 
ity practicable for transporting lumber and 
supplies necessary for prisoners. 

A supplemental report was made by the 
same officer, in which he says that the con¬ 
duct of Captain Wirz is entitled to commen¬ 
dation, and that he is properly qualified for 
his position. Captain Wirz is recommended 
for promotion. It appears from other papers, 
that the assistant-secretary of war (Camp¬ 
bell) indorsed the report, saying, “ they show 
a condition of things which calls for the in¬ 
terposition of the Department; the prison 
being a reproach to the Confederates as a na¬ 
tion,” &c. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman offered in evi¬ 
dence the report of the rebel Surgeon-Gen¬ 
eral Moore, to show that the fault at the hos¬ 
pital was owing to Dr. White, the latter hav¬ 
ing failed to send his requisition direct to the 
medical purveyor ; not having received sup¬ 
plies was owing to his own neglect. Golonel 
Chandler, it appears from another document, 
suggested the removal of General Winder as 
superintendent of the prisons, and the substi¬ 
tution of some one who has feelings of hu¬ 
manity, and who will not, like Winder suffer 
the prison to remain as it w T as, in order that 
the excess of prisoners may be removed by 
disease and death. The discomfort and suf¬ 
fering are represented to be almost incredible, 
with a frightful per centum of mortality, thus 
showing a criminal indifference on the part 
of those charged with their care and comfort. 
Captain Selph also swore to the official char¬ 
acter of other rebel documents which w 7 ere 
offered in evidence, to show that General 
Winder had power to make impressments for 
the comfort of the prisoners. 

This, Colonel Chipman said, concluded the 
chapter for to-day. * 

The witness, Captain Selph, was cross-ex¬ 
amined by Mr. Baker, and mentioned the 
names of the bureaus to which he sent ex¬ 
tracts from Colonel Chandler’s report ;• an¬ 
swers were received from all; that he only 
recollected that the one from the surgepn- 
general’s office was to the effect that the hos¬ 
pital at Andersonville should be placed in the 
same condition as the hospitals for the Con¬ 
federates. 

The Commission adjourned at four o’clock 
till to-morrow. 


SATURDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, Sept. 9.—In the military 
Commission, to day, the following paper was 
put in evidence by Judge-Advocate Chipman. 

Andersonville, Aug. 5, 1864.—Colonel R. 
n. Chilton, Assistant Adjutant and Inspec- 













I 


VTW @F ANDERSGNYILLE PRISON PEN. ©R WIRZ'I SLAUGHTER HOUSE 






































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































THE TRIAL. 


73 


tor General, C.S.A., Richmond,Ya.—Colonel: 
The following additional report of my in¬ 
spection at this point is respectfully submit¬ 
ted : Colonel Henry Fprnes, in immediate 
•Ommand of the guard forces, deserves 
especial mention as an active* intelligent, 
energetic and zealous offioer. Captain Henry 
Wirz, in immediate command of the prison, 
is entitled to commendation for his untiring 
energy and devotion to the discharge of the 
multifarious duties of his position, for which 
he is pre-eminently qualified.. I respectfully 
concur in the recommendation which lias 
been forwarded by General Winder for his 
promotion, and further recommend that not 
Jess than three Captains: or- subalterns, speci¬ 
ally selected for their .fitness for the position, 
be furnished him as assistants. 

Captain J W. Armstrong, A. jC* S., left 
the post shortly after my arrival on 6iek 
leave, locking up nearly all liis books and 
papers. I was consequently unable to make 
a satisfactory examination into, his affairs. 
Enough information, however, was elicited to 
•how that he is a very inefficient officer, and 
entirely incompetent for the discharge of the 
duties of his position, and should at once be 
removed. 

Captain R. B. Winder. A. Q. M., is an 
energetic and efficient officer, whose whole 
time and attention are requisite for the 
duties strictly appertaining to his position. 
The additional duties devolved upon him by 
the instructions from the quartermaster gen¬ 
eral’s office, requiring him to establish and 
supervise a large shoe factory, should l?e im¬ 
posed on some other officer of the department. 
The other staff officers at this post seem 
intelligent and efficient in the discharge of 
their duties, with the exception of Captain 
Samuel S. Bailey, A. A. G-y-who is mentally 
and physically incapacitated for their per¬ 
formance* and Surgeon E. Sheppard, and 
Assistant Surgeons R. E, Alexander and A. 
Thornbaugh, who are represented by the 
chief surgeon as being incompetent and 
inefficient. 

My duty requires me respectfully to recom¬ 
mend a change in the officer in command of 
the post, Brigadier-General J. H. Winder, 
and the substitution in his place of some 
©ne who unites both energy and judgement, 
with some feelings of hnmanity and consider¬ 
ation for the welfare and comfort, “ so far as 
is consistent with their safe-keeping,” of the 
vast numbers of unfortunates placed under 
liis control; some one who at least will not 
advocate, deliberately and in cold blood, the 
propriety of leaving them in their present 
condition until their number has been suf¬ 
ficiently reduced by death to make the present 
arrangements suffice for their accommoda¬ 
tion ; who will not consider a matter of self- 
laudation boasting that he has never been iu-' 
side the stockade, a place, the horrors of 
which it is difficult to describe, and which is 
a disgrace to civilization; the condition of 
which he might by the exercise of a little 


energy and judgement, even with the limited 
means at his command, have considerably 
improved. 

In obedience to instructions, I shall next 
proceed to the head quarters of the army 
of the Tennessee, and request that any 
communications for me be forwarded there, 
to the care of the chief of staff. I am, 
c,olonel, very respectfully, your obedient ser¬ 
vant, D. L. Chandler, 

A. A. and I. G. 

Colonel Chandler, being sworn, said he had 
been in the Confederate service; he had no 
retraction to make as to any thing in his 
report; during.his inspection he had a con¬ 
versation with General Winder, who seemed 
very indifferent to the welfare of the prisoners, 
and was indisposed to do any thing; he re¬ 
monstrated with General Winder as w r ell as 
he could; .when the witness spoke to him of 
tfie great mortality, and suggested that as 
the sickly season was coming on, the swamp 
should be drained, better food furnished, and 
other sanitary measures adopted, General 
Winder replied to him he thought it would be 
better to let one half die, so they could take 
care of the remainder; his (Chandler’s) 
assistant, Major Hall, had previously reported 
to him that General Winder had made a 
similar expression to him; the witness remark¬ 
ed, he thought this was discreditable, when 
M ajor Hall said General Winder had repeated 
that expression to him several times. The 
R, B. Winder, quartermaster, spoken of in 
his report is the cousin of General Winder; 
the witness said soon after liis arrival at An- 
dersonville, he rode around the stockade and 
found that the stream was very offensive; 
he wanted General Winder to have an exam¬ 
ination made in order that it might be drained ; 
tliis would have contributed to the health of 
the. prisoners; more wood might have been 
furnished; if there had been no other means 
of procuring it, lie would have turned the 
prisoners out to bring it in, guarded by the 
soldiers; he should have removed the cook¬ 
house much earlier than it was removed, and 
placed it on another stream in the vicinity ; 
the commissary might have compelled the 
purchase of green corn; there was plenty of 
it there ; .cabbage in limited quantities might 
have, been purchased; there was a difficulty 
in getting lumber; from the crowded condi¬ 
tion of the prison much shelter could not be 
put up ; Winder might have compelled medi¬ 
cal officers to reside at the post; there were 
fifteen or eighteen of such officers at. the 
prison; on his suggestion about nine hufidred 
of the sick were put under the trees ; he 
urged upon the department the removal of 
General Winder, believing that if there was 
another head, a good deal might be done; 
Winder had not the inclination to exert him¬ 
self ; the witness had also urged the removal 
of the assistant commissary, because of his 
physical inability, and because he was satis¬ 
fied of his inefficiency and want of experience; 
his name was Armstrong; when he in his 








74 


THE TKIAL. 


report spoke in commendation of Captain 
Wirz he had no suspicion of the facts subse¬ 
quently developed; he at that time saw 
nothing to indicate cruel treatment to the 
prisoners; he had himself been a prisoner, 
and knew how unwilling prisoners were to 
make complaints in the presence of the officers 
for fear of being punished; he took some of 
the prisoners aside and personally interro¬ 
gated them; none made complaints against 
Captain Wirz ; they complained of the want 
of food, and insufficient clothing and shelter. 

Question by the Judge-Advocate—How 
long was it after your report was made that 
General Winder was promoted to the su¬ 
preme command of the prison ? Answer— 
Not till after two months and a half; he was 
made commissary-general of prisons, which 
gave him the control over the large number, 
but removed him from the immediate com¬ 
mand of them. The witness said he went to 
Judge Campbell, the assistant secretary of 
war, and wanted him to;take up his report, 
but he believed it was never acted upon ; he 
had no evidence that the report went to the 
President; he believed it did not. 

Cross-examined by Mr. Baker—James A. 
Seddqp. was secretary of war when the wit¬ 
ness went to inspect the prison; Captain 
Wirz showed him the rules, to one of which 
he objected, namely, punishing men who 
attempted to escape ; he thought that to be 
wrong, but he considered the orders to be 
General Winder’s, though Captain Wirz’s 
name was attached to them; he thought 
General Winder’s bitter feeling toward the 
prisoners was such as to render him indiffer¬ 
ent to the comfort of the men, and hence 
their sufferings ; the bake-shop which he 
visited was clean, with good police, and the 
bread as good as could be made with unbolted 
meal; the bake-house and cook-house should 
have been removed from the stream, as their 
presence affected the water running past 
them; while he was on his inspection there 
was no complaint made to him about the 
drinking water ; the prisoners pointed to the 
wells. 

By the Court—General Winder was con¬ 
sidered in supreme command of the post and 
prison; the medical officers were under the 
orders of General Winder and the surgeon- 
general ; the prison regulations were signed 
by Captain Wirz, as the commandant, al¬ 
though he believed General Winder was 
responsible for them. 

Q. Was there any thing in the regulations 
which authorized Captain Wirz to shoot 
prisoners without trial ? A. that would de¬ 
pend on the circumstances, for instance in 
self-defence ; there was, however, nothing in 
the regulations which went to that extreme. 

Q. Was there any thing in the regulation? 
which established the dead-line without qual¬ 
ification ? A. I suppose the dead-line was 
established certainly with the knowledge and 
consent, if not under the instructions of Gen¬ 
eral Winder ; I do not recollect the language 


establishing the dead-line, but think it was 1 
the effect that any man crossing it, would l 
• shot, without qualification. 

In the course of the " further cross-exam 
nation the witness said he supposed each litti 
squad had its own well, and that there we 
drinking water enough for all; he obtaine 
the impression from random conversatior 
with some of the men; he visited the baki 
house twice, and also the cook-house; th 
meat was very rusty there, as it was ever] 
where else in the South; the water in th" 
stream was unfit for washing purposes; th 
established ration was the same as that a 
Richmond, but he did not know whether th 
prisoners received the full allowance; h 
could not, after trying, ascertain that fact 
the quality was the same as he had bee: 
eating himself; the bread was made of ur 
bolted meal; it was impossible to procur 
a sufficient number of sieves. 

By Mr. Baker—What he had seen in Cap 
tain Wirz left the impression that the latte 
was desirous that the prisoners should hay 
better food. 

The Court took a recess until two o’clock. 

On reassembling, John Pasque, of th 
naval service, testified as to a man’s dying ij 
the chain-gang ; he was told by a rebel sen 
tinel that for every. Yankee he shot he recieve< 
thirty days furlough and three months extri 
wages. 

John A. Marshal,, of the forty-second Ne\ 
York regiment, testified that he saw two pris 
oners shot for approaching the dead-line ; ii 
such cases the sentries were released to go oi 
furlough. Rations were stopped if the mei 
would not form in line in such a way as tx 
please Captain Wirz; he knew of a man wh< 
died from the effects of dog bites, the hound 
being kept to hunt out men. 

W. M. Peble, of Southwestern Georgia 
who was detailed as clerk to Colonel Forno 
a rebel officer in command, testified tha 
while riding out he saw a man in the stock! 
who he thought would drown, as a heavi 
rain was falling* upon his face; the witness 
held his umbrella over him for a while, anc 
then went to Captain Wirz to express hii 

apprehension; Wirz said, “ Let the- 

Yankee drown ;” in a few minutes thereafter 
however, an officer was sent from Oaptaii 
Wirz’s headquarters, who took the man oui 
of the stocks ; the crops were not so good ir 
1863 as in the year before, but the farmeri 
had a surplus. 

W. W. Crandall, of the fourth Iowa in 
fantry,. testified as to a man being badl} 
bitten in the calve3 by the dogs, and sior 
thereafter fastened at each ankle with a chair 
and ball; the man having been kept in thii 
condition several weeks, the witness went tc 
Wirz and pleaded for the release of the prison 
er, but Wirz said he could not do it; the leg! 
Were swollen, and had a putrefied look; a rebe! 
surgeon being appealed to, said he could nol 
conscientiously take off more than one chain 
which he did; the man finally died; thi 





THE TRIAL. 


75 


Witness, as one of the detailed sextons, helped 
to bury thirty or forty of the men who had 
been shot; during the time General Sherman 
was marching from Atlanta to the coast, the 
risoners were of course very anxious to 
ear the news; a report came that Sherman 
and his staff and fifteen thousand prisoners 
had been captured 5 Captain Wirz said he 
hoped this was true, and that if the prisoners 
were sent there he could take care of more 
— : —Yankees than four regiments in front; 
on one* occasion a barrel of rotten pork was 
sent to the commissary’s office, to be used by 
the Yankees ; the witness was employed in 
that office; the next day he received an order 
to weigh out the same number of pounds of 
Deef, and turn it over to Captain Wirz, who 
wanted the best, saying it was for his own 
easing; he knew the pork came from Captain 
Wirz's headquarters; prisoners who had 
money could procure food; one of them 
bought a pie, but soon vomited it up; another 
prisoner near by grabbed up the ejected 
pieces and ate them. 

Cross-examined by Mr. Baker—The dead 
were'buried by Union prisoners, under the 
superintendance of a rebel sergeant; the 
bodies were not treated indecently, excepting 
that they were carted like logs of wood in 
order to get a full load, as there was only one 
wagon; officers and soldiers frequently came 
to the grave-yard, and upbraided them for not 
burying the dead in better style, saying they 
ought to work night as well as day; there 
were not more than thirty men employed in 
burying the dead, and in vain they had en¬ 
deavored to procure more help; some of the 
visiting rebels said this grave-yard would 
make a good vine-yard, the Yankee bones 
affording good manure; let us invite their 
Yankee friends to come and eat the grapes ; 
he himself was put in the stocks for attempt¬ 
ing to escape ; he had proceeded one hundred 
and sixty miles before he was apprehended 
by scouts as a rebel deserter; fearing he 
would be Hung for being a rebel, he told 
them he was a Yankee ; this was in Septem¬ 
ber, 1864. , XT 

Willis Yan Buren, of the second New 
York cavalry, testified as to blankets and 
pants from the Sanitary Commission having 
been appropriated by the rebels; Wirz said 

to him that he could take care of more- 

_Yankees than Lee at the front; Wirz 

had threatened to shoot witness for some 
trivial offence, and ordered the guard to fire 
upon a man who stepped out to pick up a 
piece of wood; the man hastened back to the 
ranks before the guard could shoot; the wit¬ 
ness said among other things that prisoners 
were reduced to skeletons, and would go to 
the sinks to pick up undigested particles of 
food ; he mentioned several cases of shooting 
men; one of them was said by at least twenty 
men to have been shot by Captain Wirz 
himself. 

The Court adjourned till Monday. 


THIRD WEEK OP THE TRIAL. 
MONDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, Sept. 11.—After the record 
of Saturday had been read, Mr. Baker brought 
to the attention of the Commission a matter 
in relation to witnesses for the defence, which 
he thought it would be better to attend to at 
this time. The Judge-Advocate had sug¬ 
gested to him that it might be a subject .out¬ 
side of his 8 wn authority, and therefore prop¬ 
erly belonging to the Court. Some time 
before this trial commenced the gentlemen 
who were then acting as the prisoners coun¬ 
sel requested that a number of witnesses for 
the defence should be sent for, and on their 
application this was done. Some of them 
could- not be found, and others who were 
found had not reported. The reason for this 
neglect the counsel of course did not know. 

Since the trial had been progressing matters 
were developed which showed the necessity 
of other witnesses being summoned, in’ order 
to meet new points brought out in the trial. 
Those witnesses were scattered mostly in 
Georgia, and may be found within a few 
days, but in some places there were no mails 
or other means of reaching them by written 
communications, therefore it was not probable 
they could be reached by the time they were 
wanted to testify in this Court. Under these 
circumstances it was for the Government to 
say whether the defendant should have the 
facilities which the Government could afford, 
or whether he must be deprived entirely of those 
witnesses. It was an absolute necessity that 
the defendant should have the witnesses in 
this way or not at all. Counsel believed this 
defendant could show an ample defence. 
This was their sincere belief, and it was for 
them to ask that the prisoner have the means 
of making his defence. “Members of this 
Court, if they could be induced to believe the 
defendant had a defence, would not refuse to 
give him an opportunity to make it.” He 
believed this was the generosity of every man’s 
heart. If it was within the Jurisdiction of 
this Court, he asked that a messenger be de¬ 
spatched with subpoenas for such persons 
whom he felt it absolutely necessary to sum¬ 
mon for the'defence of the accused. 

The Judge-Advocate had shown every dis¬ 
position to procure the attendance of wit¬ 
nesses, so far as making out subpoenas was 
concerned, and so far as it was within the 
means of the defence to give their names, as 
had been required by the Judge-Advocate. 
Some sixty or . seventy were in New York. 
After sifting them, they came to the conclu¬ 
sion that only seven or ten of them would be 
requited. A^d. now that the trial was ap¬ 
proaching an end, he repeated that the wit¬ 
nesses he had asked for were absolutely neces¬ 
sary for the prisoner’s defence. They would 
not put the Government to any unnecessary 
expense. So far as relates to New York, 
Richmond, and in the neighborhood, the 
wtnesses would be sent for at the expense 






76 


THE TKl’Ali. 



of the defence, but further South, there 
being greater difficulties and increased ex¬ 
penses, it became absolutely necessary that 
the Government should grant the accommo¬ 
dation in the manner requested. He (Mr. 
Baker) would be ready with the list of wit¬ 
nesses to-morrow, in order that the messen¬ 
ger might leave at once.. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman replied that the 
Court were aware that from time to time 
he had urged that the rule be complied with, 
namely, that a list of witnesses be furnished; 
that had not been fully done, and this morn¬ 
ing the Court was called upon to meet a 
request of counsel that another special mes¬ 
senger be sent South. He said four weeks 
ago that one would be despatched to secure 
witnesses more for the defence than'for the 
prosecution. Those for the' latter were 
mainly here. At the time the bailiff went 
to the Old Capitol prison, and after the defen¬ 
dant had been furnished with a copy of the 
charges and specifications against him, a list 
of witnesses was made out by the prisoner, 
supervised by Messrs. Hughes, Denver <fc 
Peck, at that time his counsel, to which was 
attached this indorsement by Captain Wirz : 

“ The above-named witnesses are all I require 
in my case.” 

All of these witnesses , excepting four or 
five, were here ; their absence was accounted 
for by the fact that several are in Europe 
and the others in Texas. He had only to 
say that if in the progress of this trial it was 
believed by the counsel for the defence that 
additional witnesses were -necessary, it was 
only fair to the Government that the counsel 
should give a list of the witnesses and where 
they could be found, and also what they 
expect to prove by them. He asked them 
that there be no delay and no unnecessary 
expenses to the prosecution in this matter. 
The Government was trying to do what was 
fair. Witnesses South could be procured by 
. telegraphing to the nearest military posts. 
On Saturday he subpoenaed forty witnesses 
for the defence, and placed postage stamps 
in the envelopes for mailing. As fast as 
counsel had furnished him with names of 
witnesses he had issued subpoenas. He did 
not know what more the Government could do. 

The Court, after deliberating with closed 
doors, announced its decision relative to the 
witnesses, namely: The defendant should 
present to the Court affidavits to the names 
of the several witnesses, the places of their 
residence, and a reasonable ground that they 
can be found; and, secondly, the facts he 
expects and believes he can prove by each of 
them. From this the Court may determine 
the materiality of the evidence, and order the 
winesses accordingly. 

Mr. Baker said the Court understood from 
his remarks that with all the time counsel 
0 >uld give to the subject, they could not, 
with their other duties, now draw up separate 
affidavits. He was willing, however, to do 
any thing in his power to give the prisoner a 


fair defence, and must from necessity, aft 
the prosecution has closed, ask for a few day 
in order to attend to what the Court require! 
even if he had to work day and night, so th | 
the subpoenas might be sent as soon d 
possible. 

The Court said it would be better to grai l 
the time now than after a while, and n* 
when the prosecution is closed. That involvt 
time to make the affidavits, and to send 
messenger to Georgia, Texas, and elsewhere 

Mr. Baker replied‘they had no Witness' 
beyond New Orleans.. 

The Court said they were disposed to gray 
the time, but the question was whether.the 
should do so now or after a while. 

Mr. Baker suggested that if they wait 
till after the prosecution was ended, mai 
things will have been developed for whi< 
they could provide in their summoning < 
witnesses* but if the Court adjourned no 
counsel Would lose a great deal of time; To 
after the prosecution should close, count 
must have time to look over what the Gover 
ment witnesses have testified to, and if tin 
had an opportunity they could confine tl 
witnesses for the defence to particular point 
■ The Court repeated that an affidavit as 
what the prisoner proposed to prove must 
appended to the name of each witness, or tl 
prisoner could state his belief. 

Mr. Baker said the President of the Coil 
being a lawyer, knew that lawyers alwa 
shaped the affidavits. 

Major-General Wallace—And # there a 
two of you. . * i 

Mr. Baker—It is impossible to do so now 

General Bragg said the counsel must ha 
been apprised of the names of witnesses, ai 
what they would swear to, or else the applic 
tion was made in bad faith. If the defenda 
found out the names of the witnesses,, all th 
was necessary to be done was to consult wi 
the defendant, and draw out the facts whi( 
lie expected to prove by those whose nam 
he handed in this morning. 

Mr. Baker replied that required time, ai 
the Court could give it to him by adjoin¬ 
ing. He must have time to know how 
shape things. 

Major-General Thomas said this questi 
was pretty well opened the first week; ! 
knew it as well then as he did now.; he kn< 
what the defence would be, and it was t 
late at this day to ask the Court for furth 
time. 

Mr. Baker—I only asked the Court to se: 
a courier. 

The Court—You heard the ruling. 

Mr. Baker repeated what to his mind z 
peared the difficulty in the way. 

General Bragg—How long will it requ: 
you to draw the affidavits ? 

Mr. Baker—Two or three days, worki 
steady. There are twenty or thirty witness 
I could state generally what we expect 
prove, and do this at the Judge-Advabat 
I office, with the aid of a reporter. This coi 






THE TRIAL. 


77 


be done without an adjournment of the 
Court. 

The Court—Yery well, the question is 
settled. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman requested that a 
portion of the remarks of the counsel be read, 
reflecting upon himself and associate, Major 
Hosmer. 

Mr. Baker said he would not have the 
Judge-Advocate rest under a wrong impres¬ 
sion. 

The official reporter then read the excep¬ 
tionable-words given in a former part of this 
report. 

Mr. Baker—There is no reflection there. 

The Judge-Advocate-^-The language is im¬ 
proper, as it censures the Judge-Advocates, 
and leaves a clear Inference that the counsel 
believe that they, in the preliminary exami¬ 
nation, used improper means to influence the 
witnesses. I pronounce the whole thing 
false. 

The preliminary examination was conducted 
by Major Hosmer and myself, and was made 
with all fairness and courtesy, and in the 
presence of the officers of the Court and 
reporters and witnesses. I do not recollect 
of any such case, and I am sure nothing has 
occurred to justify the remark, which I pro¬ 
nounce false. I ask the Court to order an 
investigation, so that the counsel may sustain 
his speech by proof, and that the officer or 
officers found derelict in the particular of 
acting unprofessionally may be dealt with by 
this Court. This is due to the Judge-Advo¬ 
cate. 

Major-Gerfferal Thomas—We should know 
the names of the witnesses referred to by the 
counsel. 

Mr. Baker—I thought I was careful in 
giving the impressions of the witness' talk to 
me after taking hold of my arm. I thought 
I was very careful not to leave any impression 
that the Judge-Advocate could be guilty of 
any such thing. It may be enough for me to 
say that I have too high an opinion of the 
Judge-Advocate to believe that he did any 
such thing; but when witnesses come here 
they feel they are under these restraints, 
which we cannot feel, because we are not in 
their positions. I must let them go for what 
they are worth. I do not think the Judge- 
Advocate is guilty of this thing, and I want 
no such construction put on my language. 

Major-General Wallace—The language is 
equivalent to a charge, not only against the 
Judge-Advocate, but against some person 
connected with this Government; and if not 
made in the form of a charge by the counsel, 
it eomes at least as an accusatory statement 
from witnesses. If the things stated are true, 
it is certainly in the power of counsel to give 
the names of the witnesses. 

Mr. Baker—I don't know them. 

Major-General Wallace—It is necessary to 
have an investigation as to whether any im- 
roper attempt has been made by persons 
elonging to this Court to influence witnesses 


in their testimony. It is an impeachment of 
the Judge-Advocate of the Court, and an im¬ 
peachment directly of the Government, in 
whose name this prosecution proceeds. For 
my part I think the motion of the Judge- 
Advocate eminently proper. 

After further conversation by members of 
the Court, General Bragg said that as Mr. 
Baker made the charge he was under obliga¬ 
tion to substantiate it. 

Mr. Baker—You are a lawyer, and therefore 
know what the usual courtesy is. I thought 
I guarded my language very carefully. 

Major-General Wallace—If any officer has 
used any improper means to influence wit¬ 
nesses/you may be sure he will be punished. 

Mr. Baker-—I have at no time charged that 
any officer connected with this Court is guilty 
of any such thing. 

Major-General Wallace—We understand 
you, then, to retract. 

Mr. Baker-r-I retract any inference that the 
Judge-Advocate did any such thing. 

Major-General Wallace—Or anybody else? 

Mr. Baker—Why, surely I cannot take my 
words back. 

Judge-Advocate—I hope you will sustain 
them by proof. 

Mr. Baker—I make no charges. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman—Certain jour¬ 
nals, adverse to the Government, have gath¬ 
ered up just Aich charges against it and the 
Court, and unless the officers demand some 
proof of the truth of the charges which have 
been made here so flippantly, the JudgekAd- 
vocate must rest under the imputation. 
Unless the counsel'should retract altogether, 
the Court should demand the proof. 

Mr. Baker—If the gentlemen can find the 
charge, let them dp so. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman—You say im¬ 
proper influences have been used. 

Mr. Baker—The reporter has got what I said. 
It is the language of the witnesses. 

The Court—We want to know who the 
witnesses are. 

Mr. Baker—How can I know? They take 
me aside and tell me. There are no charges 
made. I have denied any intention or thought 
of making any charges. 

Major-General Wallace—We are to infer 
that you used your language with care. You 
must have matured it. 

Mr. Baker"—By reading my remarks, it can 
be seen how careful I was. 

Major-General Wallace—You cannot then 
give us the name of a single witness ? 

Mr. Baker—I know none of my own wit¬ 
nesses excepting two or three. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman—Such remarks 
did not come from any soldiers who had been 
at Andersonville. 

Mr. Baker repeated that the exceptionable 
remarks had been made by a couple who 
caught him by the arm. He meant no disre¬ 
spect by the repetition, but merely mentioned 
them in illustration. | 

Major-General Geary—There, are but two 



78 


THE TRIAL. 


classes of witnesses. To which did they 
belong ? 

Mr. Baker—I don’t know. I did not ask 
whether they were witnesses or not.. 

Several other members of the Court took 
part in the conversation. 

Major-General Wallace—I suggest that the 
Court give until to-morrow morning to enable 
the counsel to furnish the name of the wit¬ 
ness. 

Mr. Baker—If I can think of the name of 
the witness I will. 

Major-General Wallace—If such language 
is used it is proper you should call our atten¬ 
tion to it. 

Mr. Baker—If I can I will furnish the 
name. 

Major-General Wilson was. called to the 
stand. He testified that he was a captain of 
engineers and a major-general of volunteers; 
he had been' operating in Alabama and 
Georgia with a cavalry corps, in the military 
division of the Mississippi; he was now 
stationed at Macon; the rebels, during the 
war, drew supplies from Central Alabama and 
Georgia, which could have been sent in suffi¬ 
cient supplies to Andersonville; there were 
ample means of affording comforts at the 
prison, which he examined on the 1st of July; 
he saw the remnants of only ten sheds; the 
barracks fbr the troops were fair; shelters 
could easily have been erected for the Union 
prisoners, as there was plenty of timber in 
the neighborhood, just such a place as troops 
would like to encamp, for wood and water, if 
they wanted to winter. 

It would not have been necessary to trans¬ 
port timber more than a mile; there was 
plenty of black labor in that country; the 
difficulty was in getting rid, of the negroes; 
thirty men a day would have cut wood enough 
for fifteen thousand men; in winter the allow¬ 
ance of wood in our army is just double what 
it is in summer, and, therefore, sixty men a 
day could havo cut enough for fifteen thou¬ 
sand men; on his arrival at Macon, bis first 
inquiry was as to the condition of Andersen- 
ville prison, and who was responsible for it;, 
he sent two officers there, Lieutenant Vander- 
brook and Captain (now Major) Noyes. 

On their return they reported that the man 
Wirz was still there; he immediately ordered 
Major Noyes to return and arrest Captain 
Wirz, which he did, and brought him to 
Macon, where he was kept several days; 
when Wirz was brought before him he re¬ 
manded him to prison, and requested that he 
be brought to trial; no protection was ever 
granted to Captain Wirz through General 
Wilson, who ordered his arrest for the pur¬ 
pose of bringing him to trial, and excepted 
him from the benefit of the capitulation of 
Johnston to Sherman. 

The witness gave a particular description 
of the grounds at the Andersonville prison, 
stating that the men had burrowed in the 
ground for shelter, particularly on the hill 
side. These holes were about the size of the 


ordinary shelter tents, holding two or for 
men. 

On the cross-examination he said he steppe 
down into several of the excavations ; he sa 
no tunneling under the stockade; he wrote 
letter, simply saying the man Wirz had bee 
arrested, and that he believed him guilty c 
the infliction of punishment on the prisone: 
at Andersonville, and that the miscreai 
i should be brought to justice, in order th; 
the whole matter might be investigated ; 1 
wished the Court to understand that he hf 
great latitude as to power; he was there 1 
do as .he pleased, and as the interests of tl 
Government required; there were two hu 
hundred and fifty Union prisoners at Ande 
sonville when he reached there; they we: 
nothing but shadows, and could not be move 
without endangering their lives; many die 
after they were brought into his lines. 

By Major-General Geary—Q. Did you off 
any safe conduct for Captain Wirz’s return 

A. No, except to protect him until I deli 
ered him into such hands as the Secretary e 
War might direct; my officers said they he 
risked their own lives to protect him, and b> 
for Major Noyes the post guards at Chatt 
nooga would have killed him. 

Willis Van Buren was cross-examined, ar 
said he saw clothing, sent by the Sanitai 
Commission, on rebel soldiers. 

George Walling testified as to the resourc 
of the country in and around Andersonville 

Patrick Bradley testified what he had s& 
at Andersonville in the matters of cruelty. 

John H. Fisher (negro) and Henry C. Li 
also testified regarding events in the san 
locality. 

The Court then adjourned until to-morrc 
morning. 

TUESDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, September 12. — In the Mi 
tary Commission to-day Mr. Baker, in accor 
ance with the ruling of the Court yesterda 
resented a partial list of the witnesses who 
e desired to have subpoenaed. 

Mr. James Orman, of Atlanta, Georgi 
Ilis name was on the former paper, but t> 
messenger could not find him, and therefoi 
now required a little looking up. He w 
adjutant from the middle of July, 1864, 
April, 1865, and could give full and minu 
accounts of all transactions while at And< 
sonville. > 

James Armstrong of Macon, Georgia, w 
one of those whom the courier could not fir 
lie was commissary of the post before Capta 
Wirz was placed in charge of the prison, ai 
until April, 1865, excepting one month, a: 
could state the condition of the commissa 
supplies all the time. Major Proctor, of Ma] 
moth Cave, Kentucky, was acting commissa 
during Armstrong’s sickness, and could swe 
that no supplies could be purchased for t 
hospital, as the fifty thousand dollars due fro 
the commissary to the hospital fund could n 
l be procured. 




THE TRIAL. 


79 


James H. Sullivan, of Bardstown, Georgia, 
iyho was in the quartermaster’s department, 
in charge of the carpenter and blacksmiths’ 
shops, could testify that as long as there was 
my lumber there, it was used for coffins, and 
me time a shed w r ds torn down for that use ; 
Oaptain Wirz frequently complained of the 
r ewuess of tools, and urged new ones in place 
Df those which were broken. Several others 
whom Mr. Baker named, all immediately 
under Captain Witz, could testify as to the 
searching of Union prisoners ; they were also 
very minute at the headquarters of Captain 
Wirz. 

Mr. Baker said what he had stated would 
show the materiality of these witnesses. He 
had only selected those deemed to be the 
most important; the list was not yet com¬ 
plete. 

The Court said that what several of-the 
witnesses could swear to was not proper evi¬ 
dence. 

Mr. Baker—I suppose that is forus to judge. 

The Court—That is for the Court. 

Mr. Baker—I hope the Court will give to us 
very consideration. 

The Court—We will give you whatever is 
proper. 

Mr. Baker—We can show hundreds of other 
things by these witnesses. 

Felix de la Baum, seventy-ninth New York, 
testified, among other things, of Captain Wirz 
firing two shots at two men who were drawing 
water ; he saw one of them in a dying condi¬ 
tion ; Captain Wirz accompanied the act with 
the exclamation, “ that’s the way I get rid of 

you- —The witness related other 

perpetrations of cruelty, such as keeping men 
for long periods without water, putting men 
in the stocks, fastening them \vith ball and 
chain, bucking and gagging, and then hunting' 
by the hounds. He saw two men killed at the 
dead-line; as for himself, when he was con- 
reyed to the prison, he weighed one hundred 
and fifty-eight pounds, but when he left, he 
weighed only ninety pounds, and was a mere 
skeleton; he owed the saving of his life to 
Dr; Bates, an acting assistant surgeon at the 
hospital. Owing to the starved condition of 
the prisoners, rats were a great delicacy; Dr. 
Dates managed to get them something, to eat, 
and therefore no more rats were caught. 

Rev. Father Hamilton, of the Roman 
Catholic church, residing in Macon, testified 
in relation to his acting as a missionary at the 
Andersonville prison, and gave many points 
of interest similar to those heretofore elicited 
during the trial, including the distressing 
condition of the Union prisoners by sickness 
rind suffering, and great mortality ; the wit¬ 
ness stated that General Howell Cobb had 
asked him what he would recommend should 
be done ; he advised that officer to parole all 
the prisoners on their word of honor, and send 
them to Tallahassee, Florida; he gave Gen¬ 
eral Cobb a particular account of affairs at the 
prison; publications on this subject, appeared 
in all the the newspapers of the South. 


Judge-Advocate Chipman—The law pro¬ 
tects you from disclosing the secrets of the 
confessional. Please state, if you feel author¬ 
ized to do so, to what cause the sick men 
under your ministrations ascribed their dying 
condition. 

Father Hamilton—I cannot answer the 
question, for the confessional is one of the 
most sacred and inviolable of our institutions; 
I do not decline to answer because I want to 
take any. advantage, but because outsiders 
might charge I had violated the confessional; 
therefore I respectfully decline to answer. 
The witness desired to make a correction. He 
and Father Wheelan were not chaplains of 
Andersonville prison, but had rendered gratui¬ 
tous services there as priests. 

Charles E. Tibets, of the fourth Iowa, tes¬ 
tified to the cruelties of Captain Wirz, and 
the filthy'condition of the grounds ; the filth 
. was buried from a foot to eighteen inches deep, 
but when the rain fell, it was washed out. 
filled with lice and maggots, and this extended 
throughout the prison. On one occasion 
Wirz said to witness and his companions, 
“ Bring me Bill Crandell and I’ll give you five 
hundred dollars out of my own pocket; and 

you young-, I’ll make you smell- 

before night. You are sentenced to work ir 
the grave-yard every day, put on half rations, 
stand in the stocks at night, and be the last 
men exchanged. If you don’t work I’ll put 
you on the top of the dead and cover you up.” 
The next day Captain Wirz, in pursuance of 
orders, sent them to Florence. 

John II. Goldsmith, of the fourteenth Illi¬ 
nois infantry, -a prisoner at Andersonville, 
testified that he was detailed to perform cleri¬ 
cal duty in Captain Wirz’s office. An order 
was issued by Wirz for the guards to fire upon 
any one who spoke to them,, and a verbal order 
was given to the rebel sergeants that in case 
Union prisoners should fail to report any of 
the missing men, they should be placed in the 
stocks, or bucked or gagged. The rations to 
the prisoners were iust half in quantity to each 
man as those issued to the rebel troops. For 
three days Captain Wirz increased the ration 
of meal and peas to a pound and a quarter a 
day, and then put them back to the old stand¬ 
ard, remarking that as the Yankees were get¬ 
ting -saucy, he would bring them to their. 

milk. 

The witness heard Captain Wirz say that 
he was doing more good there than in the field, 
and that he whipped more men than General 
»Johnston did; this was in the latter part of 
January last; the witness, while employed in 
Wirz’s office, made out a furlough for a rebel 
solclier, who said he had earned it by killing a 
Union prisoner ; the rebel soldier’s name was 
Scott, and the name of the prisoner he killed 
Henry Lockmire, of the Pennsylvania Re¬ 
serves. 

On the cross-examination the witness said 
Captain Wirz ordered him to write out a fur 
lough for thirty days, the rebel soldier saying 
that he had earned it. 




THE TRIAL. 


m 

Jasper Culver, of the first Wisconsin, 
among other instances of cruelty, mentioned 
that a chain-gang of twelve men complained 
because one of their number was Very offen¬ 
sive from diarrhoea; this man Was detached 
and left to himself, the thirty-two pound ball 
still fastened to his leg, and the iron collar 
round his neck ; the irons were not taken 
from the man until after he died. The wit¬ 
ness heard Captain Wirz declare that he was 
doing more for the Confederacy than any gen¬ 
eral in the field. 

The Commission then adjourned till to¬ 
morrow. 

WEDNESDAY’S PROCEEDINGS, 

. Washington, Sept. 13.—On the opening of 
the Military Commission this morning ; Colonel 
Chipman submitted the following communi- 
tions: 

Old Capitol Prison, Washington, Sept. 
13. — Colonel Chipman, Judge-Advocate— 
Sir: Captain Wirz has been pronounced by 
the surgeon at this place, to be' too much 
prostrated to be able to appear before your 
Court to-day. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
George West, 

Captain and Military Superintendent of Old 

Capitol Prison. 

Old Capitol Prison, Washington, D. C., 
Sept. 13.—Captain West., Superintendent of 
Old Capitol Prison—Captain : I have the 
honor to inform you that Captain Wirz is 
unable to leave his room to-day. He is suf¬ 
fering from nervous prostration. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

C. M. Ford, 

A. A. Surgeon, U. S. A. 

After the reading of the record of yesterday, 
the Court asked Mr. Baker whether he was 
prepared to furnish the names of the wit¬ 
nesses who, on Monday, he charged had been 
tampered -with. 

Mr. Baker replied that it was impossible 
for him to know the witnesses by name, ex¬ 
cepting three or four of them, lie would, if 
he could, give their names with the greatest 
of pleasure. 

Major-General Wallace, the President of 
the Court, appeared to be satisfied with the 
inference drawn from the fact that the counsel 
is unable to give the names of any of the wit¬ 
nesses .alleged to have been tampered with, 
and let it be placed before the public. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman read a letter 
from Chief Justice of the Court of Claims, 
Causey, showing that this gentleman had 
given his willing consent that the Commission 
should occupy the room of the Court of 
Claims. 

The object- of Colonel Chipman was to show 
that the Commission occupied the room by 
courtesy, and that the Commission had not 
taken possession of it for the purpose of the 
trial. 

Owing to the sickness of Captain Wirz, 


the Commission adjourned till to-morrow 

morning. 

THURSDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, Sept. 14.—Colonel Chipman 
this morning read to the Military Commission 
a note addressed to him by George West, 
captain and military superintendent of the 
Old Capitol prison, dated to-day, and inclos- j 
ing a communication from Dr. Ford, surgeon j 
of the post, relative to the condition of Cap- j 
tain AVirz, in which he-states that the priso- j 
ner is. somewhat better, but unable to leav* 
his room to-day. 

The Commission being desirous of obtain¬ 
ing further information on the subject, de¬ 
spatched an orderly in quest of Dr. Ford, who 
this morning could not be found, either a-t tho 
Old Captol or at his residence. After a recess j 
the messenger returned, saying he could not 
find that gentleman. 

Mr. Baker said he saw Captain Wirz yes- i 
terday afternoon, at four o’clock. His mind 1 
was evidently much deranged, and he -could: 
not concentrate it on any subject. He (Mr. j 
Baker) took hold, of his limbs, which seemed : 
entirely without strength. He held them up, j 
and letting go, they fell like those of a dead j 
person. The prisoner did not seem to have 
much control over himself. So far as he (Mr. j 
Baker) was able to judge, Wirz seemed like a i 
man broken up. | 

He supposed the prisoner was under the 
influence of opiates. Though Wirz might be 
able to come here to-day, the physical exer¬ 
tion and mental excitement might again pros¬ 
trate him, and the Commission would have to 
adjourn over, but by adjourning over now for 
a few days the prisoner might acquire strength 
enough to go oh without further interruption. 
The defendent was most anxious that the trial 
should be brought to an end. 

In reply to a question of the President of 
the Court, Mr. Baker said the prisoner was as 
comfortable as he could be, in the Old Capi¬ 
tol, and the officers were very kind to him. 

The Commission, owing to the sickness of 
the prisoner, adjourned till Monday, Septem¬ 
ber L8. 

MONDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

1 

Washington, Sept. 18.—Captain Wirz was 
brought into the Court-room attended by a 
military guard. He continues very siek, 
being unable to sit, and was allowed to lie on 
a sofa. • 

The physician of the Old Capitol prison 
was in attendance and administered ether to 
the prisoner. 

In consequence of the absence of Major- 
General Geary, a member of the Commission, 
an adjournment took place until to-morrow. 
The Roman Catholic priests whom Captain 
Wirz requested should visit him, have not 
yet done so, there being a delay in obtaining 
passes from the War Department for that 
purpose. 






THE TRIAL. 


TUESDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, Sept. 19.—The Wirz Military 
Commission reassembled this morning. 

Mr. Baker mentioned the names of several 
witnesses whom he asked might be called for 
the defence. One of them, he said, would 
testify in relation to the scarcity of provisions 
in the South as connected with the Anderson- 
vUle department, and another in regard to the 
impossibility of obtaining medicines, even for 
the Confederate service. He asked that subpoe¬ 
nas might be sent to these and other witnesses 
heretofore named by a special messenger. Some 
©f them, perhaps, could be' reached by mail. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman said that one 
messenger could not reach these witnesses in 
six weeks to serve the subpoenas. He there¬ 
fore suggested that telegrams' be sent to the 
nearest military posts to summon the wit¬ 
nesses. This would save a large amount of 
time, and be equally efficacious as despatching 
a special messenger. 

Mr. Baker said he had been informed that 
the railroads were now in such a condition 
that the heart of Georgia could be reached 
in three days. 

The Court, after secret deliberation, decided 
that the Judge-Advocate issue subpoenas for 
the persons named to the commandants of 
Southern departments^ 

The examination of witnesses was then re¬ 
sumed. 

R. G. H. Kean testified that he was em¬ 
ployed under the Confederate Government 
until April of the present year as chief of the 
bureau of war; he identified the handwriting 
of Secretary of War Seddon and* Assistant-Sec¬ 
retary of War Campbell in connection with 
the report of Colonel Chandler relative to the 
abuses at the Andersonville prison. [This docu 
ment was heretofore received as evidence.] 

The witness had a conversation with Judge 
Campbell on the subject, but did not know 
that it was acted upon by the secretary of 
war, although the document lay upon his 
table ; he thought he would have known if the 
paper had been acted upon by that officer. 

Walter T. Davenport, residing in Americus, 
Ga., testified that he was the agent for four 
of the counties, and that in the year 1864 he 
received as tithings tw r o hundred and forty- 
seven thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight 

f iounds of bacon, thirty-eight thousand nine 
rnndred bushels of corn, three thousand five 
hundred and sixty-seven bushels of wheat, 
three thousand four hundred and twenty 
pounds of rough rice, eight hundred ami seven¬ 
teen bushels of peas, three thousand seven hun¬ 
dred gallons of sorghum, and one thousand one 
hundred and sixty-six pounds of sugar; from 
the 1st of January to the 19th of April he 
received from the same counties one hundred 
and fifty-five thousand seven hundred and 
twenty-six pounds of bacon, thirteen thousand 
five hundred and ninety-one bushels of corn, 
eighty-six bushels of wheat of the old crop, 
two thousand and seventy-seven pounds of 


si 

rice, eight hundred and fifty-four bushels of 
peas, five thousand and eighty-two gallons of 
syrup and fifty-six pounds' of sugar; there 
was also a depot at Andersonvi|le; the witness 
said he had heard that the ladies near Ander¬ 
son ville had made two successful efforts to re¬ 
lieve the prisoners; but the third time they 
were repulsed by General Winder with insult. 

Major Noyes was called to certify as to the 
facts touching the plea of counsel, which they 
have pressed with gravity, that at the time 
of the arrest of Captain Wirz the Govern¬ 
ment pledged its faith that the prisoner should 
not be prosecuted if he would consent to g^o 
to Macon. In relating all the circufnstances 
of the arrest, the witness said he w r ent to 
Wirz’s house at Andersonville, where he found 
him with his wife and two daughters ; it was 
a hard thing to take a man from his family ; 
the women were crying, and there was much 
trouble.; the arrest was made as quietly as 
possible; he informed Captain Wirz and his 
family that if General Wilson found that 
Captain Wirz had done nothing more than 
his duty, and acted in obedience to orders, ho 
would probably be released; General Wilson 
did not direct or authorize the witness to give 
the prisoner any promises, and he did not 
think that he did; the prisoner remained 
under guard all the time, and was never on 
his parole; on the way from Chattanooga to 
this city the prisoner’s life was repeatedly 
threatened, and he would have probably been 
killed by incensed soldiers, if he had not all 
the time been under guard. 

Captain Jas. M. Moore, assistant-quarter- 
master United States army, testified that the 
number of burials at Andersonville was 
twelve thousand nine hundred and twelve ; 
four hundred and fifty-one bodies were un¬ 
known ; the number of graves in the small¬ 
pox cemetery was sixty-four; these included 
all he had been able to.find ; the bodies were 
buried in trenches from one hundred to two 
hundred yards long, and so closely that the 
tablets, containing the names and rank of the 
deceased, almost touched ; the graves of those 
last buried were not found marked; no disin¬ 
terments were made for reburial. 

John M. Yonker, twelfth United States in¬ 
fantry, testified that at Andersonville a sick 
man who had escaped from the hospital was 
recaptured by bloodhounds ; his right ear was 
almost bitten off, and other serious injuries 
inflicted ; witness took a piece- of his shirt 
and tied up the wounds; the man gave a like¬ 
ness to a companion to deliver to his mother 
in the event of his death, which occurred the 
next morning; the deceased had travelled 
thirty or forty miles when he was pursued by 
the dogs; he endeavored to climb a tree, but 
was unable from weakness to do so; lying 
prostrate the hounds attacked him with the 
result already mentioned; the witness said 
he met the old fellow who had charge of the 
hounds in the grave-yard; he asked the man 
why he committed such cruelties, to which he 
replied that it was by order of Captain Wirz, 



82 


THE TUI Ah. 


who fold him not to bring back any of tire 
Yankee sons of bitches. 

Mr. Baker asked-the Court to disregard the 
last portion of the witness’s statement, but 
the Commission''overruled the objection. . 

Ihe witness said that on the first day of 
his arrival at Andersonville he saw Captain 
Wirz, who was threatening and cursing, and 
he came at once to. the conclusion that Wirz 
was a rough customer. The witness saw a 
piece of tin lying on the ground, and being a 
blacksmith thought he could make himself a 
saw of it. Wirz, seeing him reaching for the 
tin, called out to the guard, Why don’t you 
shoot the Yankee son of a bitch?” He did 
not get the tin. Witness spoke of the misery 
that he and others endured at Andersonville, 
the stopage of rations, the chain-gang, the 
shooting of men at the dead-line, &c. 

James P. Stone, second regiment Vermont 
volunteers, testified as to his observations at 
Andersonville, mentioning several cases of 
cruelty similar to those heretofore stated. 

George Conway, third New York artillery, 
swore that he saw Captain Wirz himself, 
while in a sentry box, shoot at a man who 
tried to recover his -tin cup from the stream 
into which he had accidently dropped it. 

N. D. L. Orcutt aud others were examined 
as to the cruelties at Andersonville, when the 
Court adjourned. 

Wirz appeared slightly better at the trial 
to-day, and as the major part of the evidence 
for the prosecution will be concluded within 
the next two days, it is probable that the 
prisoner will become animated with renewed 
vigor and hope while the evidence summon ed 
for the defence is being brought out. 

WEDNESDAY’S PROCEEDINGS, 

Washington, September 20.— Dr. Thorn¬ 
burg testified that he had been in the Con¬ 
federate army as a private; was appointed an 
assistant surgeon, and promoted to surgeon; 
he was assigned to duty at the Andersonville 
hospital, and among the reports which he 
made was the following:— 

Confederate States Military Hospital, 
Andersonville, Georgia, September 26,1864. 

Sir : I would most respectfully call your 
attention to the very bad sanitary condition 
of the second division, as well as the whole 
hospital, to the immense quantity of filth ac¬ 
cumulating in the streets, and to the filthiness 
of the tents and patients, and to the fact that 
it cannot be otherwise until we are furnished 
with the means with which to work : patients 
lying on the cold ground, without bed or 
blanket, and also that we have a very scanty 
supply of medicines, and that the rations are 
not of the proper kind and not issued in prop- 
*cr quantity. Hoping that the proper steps 
may be taken to remedy these defects, I am, 
sir, your obedient servant, 

A. Thornburg. 

Assistant Surgeon to R. R. Stevenson, Sur¬ 
geon in Charge P. A. C. S. 


Tiie witness had made several similar, re¬ 
ports to Dr. White. He frequently saw the 
prisoners have pants made out of what little 
bed-clothing they could get. During the ad¬ 
ministration of Dr. White but few vegetables 
were issued, and those in small quantities; 
knew there was an order from the War Depart¬ 
ment placing the prison hospital on the same 
footing as the Confederate hospitals. The 
hospital fund could have been drawn, and it 
would have supplied the hospital with vege¬ 
tables. The meal issued was very coarse and 
unsifted. Under the administration of Dr. 
Stevenson things were very little better than 
they were under Dr. White. It was very diffi¬ 
cult to procure medicines, and when requisi¬ 
tions were made it was some days before they 
were filled, the medicines most needed fre¬ 
quently not being furnished at all. The mor¬ 
tality was great, and the witness attributed it 
to want of proper diet, the crowding of men in 
small space, and the lack of shelter and fuel. 
The worst cases were brought from the stock¬ 
ade to the hospital. There would be forty or 
filty or sixty deaths per day; their places 
would be filled by sick men from the stockade. 
Deaths frequently occurred in the stockade. 
Some died who had never received medical at¬ 
tention. Persons waiting at the stockade 
gate for medical attention would die before 
being carried to the hospital. 

Witness was here shown the hospital regis¬ 
ter, and stated that he recognized the book as 
being the hospital book kept at Andersonville. 
Saw no marks to indicate that it had been 
tampered with except some pencil marks, 
which he supposed to be check marks. 

The book was here offered in evidence by 
Colonel Chipman. It is a record of the hospital 
at Andersonville. 

Frederick M. Jayne, a clerk to the Commis¬ 
sion, testified that he had prepared an exhibit 
of the number of deaths from the book. In 
doing this he made the check mark referred to 
by the witness. 

Dr. Thornburg, resumed—The number re¬ 
turned to the stockade from the hospital was 
very small; many who got well were detailed 
as nurses or on some duty outside of the stock¬ 
ade ; witness had frequently seen men brought 
out of the stockade, and no one knew what 
they died with; one half of those who died 
could have been saved had proper diet, shel¬ 
ter and accommodations been furnished; in 
August nve or six buildings were erected in 
the northwest corner of the stockade; in the 
beginning of this year some four or five other 
sheds were erected* in the south part of the 
stockade; witness knew nothing about the 
capacity of the sheds, nor how many men 
they would hold ; many of the prisoners built 
shelter from boughs, old blankets, or any thir."- 
they could get; there was some frost and a 
little ice during the winter; in the emaciated 
condition of the prisoners the weather was 
cold enough to freeze them to death; during 
the summer of 1864, the hottest weather, the 
thermometer stood about 96 or 100 in the 








* 


THE TRIAL. 


lade; in the summer of 1865 it was much 
armer. 

Colonel' Chipman here called attention on 
le register to the. name of 0. Jerrefy, of the 
le-hundred-and-sixth Pennsylvania regiment, 
ho was frozen to death during the winter 
? 1864. 

By Mr. Baker—Witness thought the build- 
igs were erected in the stockade by order of 
aptain Wirz^ the register offered inevidenco 
as the property of the hospital, and in charge 
f Dr. White ; frequently the prisoners would 
e sick when they arrived. Witness never 
reated a person who had .received a gun-shot 
j round inside the stockade; saw a man’s leg 
■ mputated who had been shot by the sentinel, 
ut for what cause did not know ; he had fre- 
uently seen men brought out of the stockade 
nth wounds upon them; he saw some who 
tad tlieir skulls fractured. Witness had treat- 
id one or two who had been wounded ill the 
tockade by their comrades ; in the early part 
>f June he treated five hundred patients per 
iay. Was never interfered \nth by Captain 
Wirz, but thought he showed a disposition for 
he surgeons to do all they could for the 
prisoners; large quantities of vegetables were 
intered on the hospital books as bought, but 
they were never brought into the hospital; 
the vegetables were bought with the hospital 
fund, and there must have been fraud com¬ 
mitted ; if the amount of hospital fund allowed 
by the Government had been drawn, it would 
have been enough to supply all necessary 
things to the hospital. 

The hospital fund should have been drawn 
from the commissary. Witness stated if it 
had been his duty, and he had been furnished 
with the money, he could have bought plenty 
of vegetables; all kinds of vegetable diet was 
required for the hospital, with eggs, butter, 
chickens, &c., which would have been suitable 
for sick men; sometimes they got wheat 
bread, that is such patients as it was pre¬ 
scribed for; in the fall of 1864 several priests 
were allowed to visit the sick and administer 
to the prisoners; they also gave the prisoners 
money, and sent a large quantity of flour, 
which was baked in the bakery and distributed 
to the prisoners. 

There was an order forbidding any citizen 
to go into the hospitals without a pass from 
Captain Wirz; citizens were not allowed to 
trade with the prisoners. Witness received 
some blankets for his division which had been 
furnished by the United States Sanitary Com¬ 
mission; the rules were more strict while 
Winder was at Andersonville than afterward. 

A. D. Blair, twenty-second New York regi¬ 
ment, testified, among other things, that he 
reached over the dead-line to procure water, 
when the sentry fired at him, and the bullet 
passed over his head, striking two men, one 
of whom, in his tent, was mortally wounded; 
Wirz planted a range of flags inside of the 
stockade, and gave the order that if a crowd 
of two hundred should gather in any one spot 


83 

beyond those flags he would fire grape and 
canister upon them. 

Cross-examined—He told the prisoners he 
would fire if they got inside of those flags in 
crowds, 

Charles H. Russell testified that he was in 
the service of tire United States, company E, 
•first Wisconsin cavalry, and was taken to 
Atlanta, where he stayed in the hospital two 
weeks; he was then taken to' Andersonville, 
arriving there May 27th, 1864; when conveyed 
to Captain Wirz’ headquarters, Wirz told liis 
orderly to “ take every thing that the Yankee 

cavalry--had,” and threatened 

to shoot witness because he spoke to him about 
the bad bread; Wirz had a pistol in his hand, 
and presented it to witness’ head and threat¬ 
ened to shoot him ; witness had seen men shot 
by the sentinels; one man fell and his arm 
went under the dead-line, and the guard fired 
at and killed him; saw Captain Wirz go up to 
the sentry and shake his hand after he had 
shot a man, and called him a “ bully .fellow 
witness had seen men vaccinated; one man be¬ 
longing to the same regiment as the witness 
was vaccinated, and died about the 1st of 
September; he had no other disease, but sores 
were all over him on his arms and legs; the 
swamp was eighteen inches or two feet deep 
with maggots, and the men had to pass 
through it frequently; he had often seen men 
in there digging roots ; heard Wirz about the 
4th of June say Johnston had cleaned out 
Sherman and taken him prisoner; Wirz said 
he had been an orderly sergeant in an Illinois 
regiment, and was under Sigel. 

The Court then adjourned. 

THURSDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, Sept. 21.—Captain Wirz is 
somewhat improved in health to-day. 

J. Burns Walker testified, among other 
things, that General Howell Cobb came to 
Andersonville on the 4th of March, and the 
paroled prisoners, outside wore notified that it 
we desired to hear the general we could go 
down; a good many of us went down, I 
among the others; 1 found General Cobb in 
the midst of the crowd; the second Georgia 
regiment I think was down at the shed that 
was being built for a brick-yard. He made a 
speech in which he referred to the prisoners, 
saying he was sorry that any prisoners had 
been captured, and that he should hang every 
prisoner if he had his own way; he further said: 
“If the prisoners come up to your house to 
take your chicken or your pig, hang them; if a 
a prisoner comes up to your house to speak to 
your women, hang him.” He then referred to 
President Lincoln, saying: “ If President Lin- 
coin ever gets me he will hang me, and if I ever 
get President Lincoln I wifi hang him.” 

In referring to the conduct of Captain 
Wirz, he said that he “was glad to find the 
state of things around Andersonville to be 
such as he did,” and recommended Captain 
Wirz as being a very meritorious and efficient 







84 


THE TRIAL. 


officer, doing his duty, and doing it well. He 
said to the Confederate troops around him 
tl Look over into the stockade,” pointing his 
finger directly to it, “ go look over there, and 
compare yourself with those men, and go 
home and.kiss your wives and sweethearts, 
and see if you cannot gain your indepen¬ 
dence.” He further said, in • connection 
with the grave-yard and the treatment he 
would give to the ’ prisoners: “ 1 would treat 
the prisoners here well; I would feed them 
well; I would care for them.” His voice, 
when he said that he would care for them, 
assumed a stentorian tone ; he spoke harshly, 
and as if with deep meaning/ pointing at the 
same time with his hand to the grave-yard, as 
if meaning that that would be the care that 
he would give them. The speech was re¬ 
ceived with some hurrahing, but not so 
enthusiastically as I have seen speeches re¬ 
ceived in other places. 

Ambrose Spencer, residing nine miles 
from Andersonville, testified that he visited 
the prison every month, and had ample op¬ 
portunities of ascertaining its condition, 
■which was as wretched and degrading as the 
mind could well conceive; the odor from the 
stockade could be detected at a distance of 
two miles; that section of country was well 
supplied with mills, both for grain and lum¬ 
ber ; it was probably the most densely 
wooded of any in the United States, and as 
to fertility, he believed Southwestern Georgia 
was regarded as the garden spot of the Con¬ 
federacy and from which immense quantities 
of supplies were drawn for the army; there 
was an uncommonly large supply of vegetables 
in the summer of 1864, some of which were, 
token from Americus to Andersonville for 
the use of of Confederate officers; the wit¬ 
ness had knowledge of the ladies in the 
neighborhood gathering clothing and food for 
the relief of the prisoners; General Winder 
in the presence of himself and wife, and 
several other ladies, said, with an oath, that 
he “ believed the whole country was becoming 

Yankee,” and that he would “be-if he 

wouldn’t put a stop to it; if not one way. he 
would another;” the witness replied that 
“the exhibition of humanity.w r as no evidence 
of the fact of that assertion; Winder said it 
was a slur on the Confederate Government, 
and a covert attack upon himself; the witness 
informed him that the supplies were forwarded 
at the request of Rev. Mr. Davies, w r hen Gen¬ 
eral Winder replied, “ that’s a-lie; as 

for himself he would as soon the —— Yan¬ 
kees should die there as anywhere else ; he 
believed it would be better,” General Winder’s 
language on this occasion was utterly unfit to 
be repeated in the presence of ladies; but 
the meaning was that he could very easily 
make loyal women of them by putting them 
in a certain condition. 

In a subsequent conversation with R. B. 
Winder, Lieutenant Reed and Captain Wirz, 
Reed observed that if General Winder had 
done as he wanted him to do, he (Reed) would 


have made a good speck out of the clothing 
and supplies.. Captain Wirz said if her had 
his own way he . would have a house built for 
a certain infamous purpose,, in which he 
would place those benevolent women. R. B. 
Winder concurred in this remark by laughing. 
At the laying out of the prison W. S. Winder 
was there superintending. The witness 
ask$d him if he was goingto erect sheds and 
shelter, and why he was cutting down the 
trees, to which he replied, “ I am going to 

build the pen so as to destroy more- 

Yankees than can be destroyed at the front.” 
General J. H. Winder always swore whenever 
the name of Andersonville was mentioned. 
The witness described him as bereft of feeling 
of humanity, in fact a brutal man. 

Dr. B. J. Head, who was on duty as sur¬ 
geon at Andersonville in July and August, 
1864, testified in relation to affairs at the 
hospital, including the sufferings of prisoners 
from disease, and for the -want of proper diet* 
shelter, and medicine; men would often die 
for the want of stimulants; when he visited 
his home at Americus, he mentioned to his 
wife the sufferings of the prisoners, and sho 
went around the town and gathered consid¬ 
erable supplies, which were forwarded to An¬ 
dersonville; General Winder expressed him¬ 
self as glad that such things had been sent; . 
this cleared the way for a: second contribution, 
which was larger thgn the first; the third 
time his wife went about the country and 
gathered provisions and clothing, and some*, 
of the ladies went up with them to the An¬ 
dersonville depot; Lieutenant Reed sworo 
that the goods should not go into the prison; 
some said that he (Dr. Head) should be shot, 
and others that he should be hanged for his 
agency in procuring these supplies; the wit¬ 
ness then called on General Winder, and in¬ 
formed him that it was in accordance with his 
permission that supplies had been carried into 
the stockade; General. Winder got out of his 
chair, turned round ana said, “ I do not know 

how in the —- and-there are so many 

sympathizers for the-Yankees;” to this 

the witness replied, “This is only a mission of 
charity and mercy,” when General Winder 

exclaimed “ Every-Yankee sympathizer 

and-Yankee ought to sink into —— 

when the train came down with Confederate 
soldiers the provisions were distributed among 
them, and the ladies returned to their homes. 

Charles H. Russell was recalled, and re¬ 
lated two instances of cruelty by James Dun¬ 
can, a rebel in charge of the distribution of 
bread in the quartermaster’s department; a 
prisoner stooped to pick up a crust, when 
Duncan jumped from the wagon and kicked 
him three pr four times; the man died several 
days thereafter in the stockade ; another poor 
fellow who asked for bread, was similarly 
treated by this same Duncan; the witness 
was asked if Duncan wag now in Court, when 
he responded in the affirmative, and pointed 
him out: Duncan, after standing up to show 
himself, was requested to take a seat, and the 




the trial. 


Court informed Duncan that he must remain 
here. 

W. W, Crandell was recalled, and swore 
that Duncan took a picture from a prisoner 
named Armstrong,’who was in the spread- 
eagle stopks, the picture being that of a near 
friend ; that the prisoner pleaded most earnest¬ 
ly for its return, when Duncan said he might 
consider himself fortunate if he got out of 
the stocks at all; Duncan also helped himself 
to the prisoner’s money. 

Samuel M. Riker testified that prisoners 
were robbed at Richmond before they were 
conveyed to Andersonville ; at the latter place 
the government equipage was taken from the 
soldiers, and also money over a certain 
amount; Duncan was on duty in more than 
one capacity ; he was in charge of the bakery 
and cook-house, and was also a government 
detective under Captain Wirz. 

E. G. Smith testified he heard Captain 
Wirz order a sentinel to shoot a man who had 
reached beyond The dead-line for water; 
the sentinel hesitated, when Wirz said if he 

did not shoot the-Yankee he (Wirz) 

would shoot him; the sentinel then fired, the 
ball taking effect in the man’s head, and 
killing him instantly. 

Benjamin B. Dyke, rebel railroad agent at 
Andersonville, testified, there was a good 
deal of provisions on hand there at all times, 
excepting when the place was first opened; 
the freight trains were regular, from one'to 
six, according to circumstances, running 
every day ; vegetables ki plenty were brought 
to the depot; the hounds used at the prison 
belonged to Ben. Harris, who had employed 
them in catching negroes; the witness knew 
Duncan, who had arranged with him to sell 
sundry barrels of syrup. 

Ambrose Henshaw testified as to men be¬ 
ing shot for approaching the dead-line. After 
one had been killed because he reached out 
for a crumb of bread the witness asked Captain 
Wirz if he might remove the body. “Yes,” 

said Captain Wirz; “ take him, and go to -- 

with him.” 

Thomas Walsh, who kept a memoranda 
book at Andersonville, read therefrom, at the 
request of the Judge-Advocate, by which it 
appeared that no rations were issued on the 
26th of March, 1865, and not served until 
three o’clock the next day, and that he had 
made the entry : “A number of sick, weak 
and hungry-—a sad thing for us all.” No ra¬ 
tions were issued on the 1st of April, but the 
next day, at five o’clock, a pint of meal and 
two or three ounces of mule flesh were issued 
as a ration. The witness said that by paying 
three dollars to the guard, a prisoner could 
get out to gather wood. He did not know of 
any man who was sent to the hospital who 
eame out alive. On the fourth of July the 
prisoners got rations, but being full of maggots 
they threw them away. Captain Wirz said, 

on one occasion, “ May G —d A-—y- 

me forever and forever if I do not shoot with 


85 

my revolver the first man who attempts to 
leave the ranks.” 

The Commission then adjourned. 

FRIDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, Sept. 22.—Dr. Hopkins testi 
fied that on the 22d of July, 1864, he was as¬ 
signed to duty in the hospital at Andersonville. 
He, together with Surgeon White, was ordered 
to make a thorough inspection of the prison and 
hospital, with a view to their improvement. 
The witness here read the following letter, as 
the report which he had made: 

Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 1, 1864.—Brig¬ 
adier General John A. Winder—General: In 
obedience to your order of the 28th of July, 
requesting us to make examination of the Fed¬ 
eral prison, and hospital at this place, and to 
ascertain and report to you the cause of dis¬ 
ease and mortality among the prisoners, the 
measures necessary to prevent the same, has 
been complied with, and we respectfully sub¬ 
mit the- following causes of disease and mor¬ 
tality: First. The large number of prisoners 
crowded together in a small compass. Second. 
The entire absence of all vegetables as diet, so 
necessary as a preventative of scurvy. Third. 
The want of barracks to shelter the prisoners 
from sun and rain. Fourth. The inadequate 
supply of wood and good water. Fifth. Badly 
cooked food. Sixth. The filthy condition of 
prisoners and prison generally. Seventh. The 
morbid emanations from the branch or ravine 
passing through the prison, the condition of 
which cannot be better explained than by 
naming it a morass of human excrement and 
mud. Preventive measures: First, the re¬ 
moval immediately from the prison of not less 
than fifteen thousand prisoners. Second. De¬ 
tail or parole a sufficient number of prisoners 
to cultivate the necessary supply of vegetables; 
until this can be carried into practical opera¬ 
tion, the appointment of agents along the dif¬ 
ferent lines of railroad to purchase and for¬ 
ward a supply. Third. The immediate erec¬ 
tion of barracks to shelter the prisoners. Fouth. 
To furnish the necessary quantity of water, 
and have wells dug to supply the deficiency. 
Fifth. Divide the prisoners into squads; place 
each squad under the charge of a sergeant: 
furnish the necessary quantity of soap, and 
hold-these sergeants responsible for the per¬ 
sonal cleanliness of his squad ; furnish the pris- 
ners with clothing at the expense of the .Con¬ 
federate Government, and if that Government 
be unable to do so, candidly admit our inabil¬ 
ity, and call upon the Federal Government to 
furnish them. Sixth. By a daily inspection 
of bake-house and cookery. Seventh. Cover 
over with sand from the hill-sides the entire 
morass, pot less than six inches deep. Board 
the stream or water-course, and confine the 
men to the use of the sinks, and make the 
penalty for disobedience of such orders severe. 
For the hospital, recommend, First. That 
the tents be floored with plank; if plank 




THE TRIAL. 


86 

cannot be had, with puncheons; and if this 
be impossible, then with fine straw, to be 
frequently (jhanged. Second. Find an ad¬ 
equate supply of stool-boxes, and recommend 
that the number be increased, and that 
the nurses be required to remove them as 
soon aS used, and before returning them see 
that they are well washed and limed. Third. 
The diet for the sick is not such as they 
should have, and we r.ecommend they be 
supplied with the necessary quantity of beef 
soup, with vegetables. Fourth. We also 
recommend that the surgeons be required 
to visit the hospital not less than twice a 
day. 

We cannot too strongly recommend the 
necessity for the appointment of an efficient 
medical officer to the exclusive duty of in¬ 
specting daily the prison hospital and bakery, 
requiring of him daily reports of their con¬ 
dition to headquarters. 

We have the honor to remain, general, very 
respectfully, your obedient servant, 

(Signed) L. H: Hopkins, 

Acting Assistant Surgeon. 

Dr. Hopkins further testified that he 
submitted this report to Dr. White for his 
signature. The latter said that it contained 
the truth, and that he would sign it and send 
it to General Winder, but he did not sign it, 
and the witness did not know that any thing 
had been done to carry out the suggestions. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman then submitted 
A general order of General Winder, addressed 
to Dr. Hopkinfc, to show f that the Richmond 
authorities had knowledge of the condition 
of the Andersonville prison, and that General 
Winder had authority to apply a remedy. 

Cross-examined by Mr. Schade.-—The wit¬ 
ness said he did not know who was to blame ; 
Captain Wirz signed the orders as com¬ 
mander of the interior of the prison ; he could 
see no great difficulty in the way of improve¬ 
ment ; it was the implicit confidence which 
General Winder had in Wirz that caused the 
state of things to exist, otherwise General 
Winder would have visited the prison. 

N. B. Harold, who was a shipper of supplies 
at Americus, testified he did not think they 
were ever out of bacon and meal; there was 
as much there as could be shipped. 

Cross-examined—He said the provisions 
furnished to the prisoners were the same as 
furnished the Confederate army. 

Dr. G. L. Rice, on duty at Andersonville, 
testified to the terrible condition of’ the 
stockade; men died from starvation, cold, 
exposure and other causes; medicines were 
not furnished in the professional way, but by 
a formula or number, according to the rules 
of the prison; for instance, instead of mention¬ 
ing the medicine, the prescription would be 
for number one or two, or any other number, 
a specific for every .disease being designated 
by a number; there w r as no other way in 
which medicines could be obtained; Dr. 
Stevenson, who had been in charge of the 


hospital, was tried and found guilty of en 
bezzling the hospital fund, which anlounte 
from one hundred thousand dollars, to on 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 

Captain Wilson French, seventeenth Coi 
necticut, testified that he, with sixty-five othe 
Officers, were confined in a room sixty fe( 
long and twenty-five feet wide; they wei 
there five weeks; if they had not had th 
privilege of buying provisions they woul 
have starved to death from insufficiency. . 

J. R. Griffin, Sergeant J. E. Alden, RoB 
ert Tate and others testified relative to affairs 
at Andersonville, and the cruelties of Gaptai 
Wirz; after which the Commission adjourned 

At the close of the proceedings in the Wifi 
trial to-day a remarkable scene took plac< 
The witness on the stand, an Indiana cavalr 
man named George W/Gray, had been test! 
fying to some outrage on the part of Wirj 
that had not been put in evidence befor 
He stated that the party of prisoners ij 
whose company he arrived at Andersonvillj 
were ordered to place their blankets, kna| 
sacks, haversacks, canteens, etc., in oh 
lace, when an officer, mounted on a grd 
orse, rode up and told the Confederate so 
. diers to help themselves, and let the prisonei 
have the remainder. 

The Confederates helped themselves, an 
there was nothing left; he was not certai 
whether the mounted officer was Wirz or not 
in June or July, 1864, the witness and 
young fellow named Underwood, of th 
seventh Indiana cavalry, went to the sutlei 
tent; Wirz was there, and Underwood aske 
for something to rub his wound with; th 
sutler said he would give it, when Wirz sai 
“ No, he cannot have it unless he pays me 
dollar;” Underwood gave him his only monej 
which was a ten dollar bill; when he aske 
for the change Wirz kicked him out of th 
door; the witness was put in the stocks fou 
days for attempting to escape; he knew i 
man to die in the stocks in August or Sep 
tember, 1864; the negroes took him out of 
the stocks after he was dead, threw his body 
into a wagon, and hauled it off; he knew 
Wirz to shoot a young fellow named William 
Stewart, of the’ninth Minnesota infantry 
he and the witness had gone out of the stock¬ 
ade with a dead body which they had begged, 
when they met Captain Wirz, who rode up 
to them after they had left the body in thoi 
dead-house, and asked them by what author¬ 
ity they were out there. 

Stewart replied that they were there by 
proper authority; Wirz said no more, but 
drew his revolver and shot him; after Stewart 
was dead the guards took from his body 
twenty or thirty dollars, and Wirz took the | 
money from the guards and rode off, telling! 
them to carry the witness to prison; it was 
witness’ determination to escape if he could, 
and for that reason he had gone out, but was 
not attempting to do so at the time; when 
the prisoners were being removed to the cars 



































«r 















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































T H Efl 1 

to be exchanged, Wirz gave orders to Lieu¬ 
tenant Davis to bayonet any .man who laid 
down in the road, and witness had seen men 
who were crawling on their hands and knees 
to the cars bayoneted by the guards; witness 
heard one of the surgeons ask Wirz when 
he was going to remove the Yankees, and 
Wirz’s reply was, ‘-—these Yankees, they will 
rnl be dead in a few days, anyhow witness had 
»een a prisoner, who had been caught by the 
dogs, with part of his cheek torn oil*, and his 
arms and legs gnawed so that lie only lived 
twenty-four hours ; the first time that he had 
known Wirz personally was one day he heard 
lieutenant Davis call his name at the gate. 

Colonel Chipman said,-“ Captain Wirz, will 
you be good enough to stand up ?’’ 

fhe prisoner, who had been lying all day 
on a lounge, squirmed round, partly raising 
himself, till his eyes lit up with a wild and 
haggard expression, and yet glaring like those 
of a wild animal brought to bay, met the 
eyes of the witness. 

Colonel Chipman to the witness, “ Do you 
recognize that man as the man who shot your 
qomrade ?” 

The witness slowly and emphatically said : 
-‘That is the man.” 

The prisoner here made an effort to con¬ 
tradict the witness, muttering some incohe¬ 
rent expressions about not having been seen 
by the witness with Lieutenant I)avis. 

He was with difficulty restrained and si¬ 
lenced by the officers having him in charge. 
The Judge-Advocate, apparently not satisfied 
with the opportunity which the witness had 
for'identification, asked the prisoner to rise. 
Gathering up as well as he could his loose, ill- 
jointed frame, which appeared as if it might 
fall to pieces, the prisoner tottered to his feet, 
and was supported in that attitude by the offi¬ 
cer of the guard, while his eyes wore such a 
wild expression that it was hard to repress 
sympathy with the unfortunate man. 

Again the Judge-Advocate repeated his 
question to the witness, whose reply this time 
was more hesitating. “ I think that is the 
man.” Another wild and fruitless attempt 
at contradiction was made by Wirz, when he 
was partly drawn and partly sank on the 
lounge, where, by order of General Wallace, 
be was furnished with cold water, and was 
tanned by the officers. The Court thereupon 
adjourned, General Wallace ordering the 
room to be cleared instantly so that the fain¬ 
ting and apparently dying man might have 
more air. The halls and lobbies were filled 
with persons waiting to see Wirz as he might 
be carried past. 

The prosecution will probably close to-mor- 
tow, but it is doubtful whether Wirz will live 
to see the case closed on this side of the 
jfrave. 

THE WITNESS DUNCAN. 

James W Duncan, who had ill-treated some, 
of the Andersonville prisoners, causing the 
ieath of one of them, and who was arrested in 
the court-room yesterday, has been committed 


' RIIATL. g 9 

to the Old Capitol prison. This man was sum¬ 
moned hither as a witness for Captain Wirz. 

SATURDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, September 23.—Captain Wirz 
immediately after being brought into Court, 
lay down upon the sofa, still being too weak 
to sit up. 

Sergeant Gray, whose testimony toward 
the close of the proceedings yesterday caused 
the prisoner so much distress, was"cross-ex¬ 
amined to-day. In reply to a question by Mr. 
Schade, he said he believed in punishment after 
death. When he arrived at Andersonville as 
a prisoner, his pocket-book and cavalry coat 
'were taken from him; his* boots had been 
removed from his feet at the time of his cap¬ 
ture. The witness gave an affecting account 
of the sufferings of the prisoners. 

Captain J. H. Wright, of the fifty-fifth 
Georgia, was recalled, and testified that in the 
absence of the commander of the post Captain 
Wirz had the command, and countersigned 
furlough papers. The witness superintended 
the extension of the prison grounds, eleven 
acres having been added. Captain Wirz made 
a requisition upon him for axes, which he had 
no difficulty in supplying. Fuel could have 
been supplied if the prisoners had been allowed 
I to go out after it under guard. 

Cross-examined by Mr. Schade—Furloughs 
were approved by Captain Wirz; when the 
latter acted in place of General Winder, he 
could give furloughs for thirty days, and when 
acting for Colonel Parsons, furloughs for seven 
days ; they never had sufficient transportation 
at Andersonville. 4 

Lewis Dyer, of the twelfth United States 
colored troops, testified that Captain Wirz 
proposed to the colored prisoners that if they 
took the oath to the South, they could choose 
their own masters, and some of the guards 
said that Captain Wirz declared he would make 
the white prisoners join the Confederates by 
starving them; the witness was for some time 
a servant at the house of Dr. White, ordered 
thither by Captain Wirz, and for,which he re¬ 
ceived no pay ; Captain Wirz brought to Dr. 
White’s three thousand letters, addressed to 
Unioii prisoners ; he handed them to Captain 
Heed’s wife, who was staying there; she took 
every thing out of the letters, such as money, 
needles, thread, pictures, &c. Mrs. Reed 
laughed at the contents of the letters, making 
fun of them, and then ordered him to burn 
them; he had seen Confederates wearing the 
clothing which had been sent to the prisoners ; 
he heard the surgeons at Dr. White’s say “ I 
have poisoned live Yankees to-dayand 
another would say, ‘‘I have poisoned ten*” 
They were laughing and drinking at the time ; 
he also heard" the surgeons say they were 
going to vaccinate and. take off the arms of the 
Yar&ees ; they would be laughing about the 
poison; Mrs. Reed took from the letters four 
hundred or five hundred dollars, which she 
kept in a box until the prison was broken up ; he 
did not know what became of the money. 





THE TRIAL. 






90 

Mr. Baber asked the Commission to adjourn 
for at least one week from next Tuesday, for 
the following reasons— 

First. That not coming into the case at the 
day of its opening, I have had no time to do 
more than to keep along daily with the exami¬ 
nation of witnesses piit upon the stand by the 
prosecution. I have had no time to inform 
myself of what witnesses the defence have had, 
nor what they will testify to generally, nor 
upon what points any certain witnesses will 
testify. Upon all these matters I must inform 
myself by calling our witnesses together, and 
learning from them what they know, and upon 
what facts in the case they can testify. To do 
this requires time, which I must ask of the 
Court. 

Second. There are many points in the 
prosecution just closed, as there always are in 
every case, and more especially in cases of the 
magnitude of this, which admit and require at 
our hands complete refutation and contradic¬ 
tion. This I know can be done, but it necessi¬ 
tates the labors of overlooking the testimony 
and documents of the prosecution, which num¬ 
ber several thousand pages, and requires 
much research and time. And the third rea¬ 
son, and which I regret to offer, is that the 
labors devolving upon me in the case have 
proved quite too heavy, and my own health 
requires that I should have a few days’ rest. 
I regret very much to ask any favors of this 
Court for reasons personal to myself, but when 
I state to the Court that I am unable to go 
further with the case without rest, I trust the 
Court will do me the honor to believe that 
the statement comes not from, a wish, but 
from my imjraired condition. 

A fourth reason, and the all important one 
in our defence, is this, and to give it more 
weight with the Court by being more clearly 
seen, I must state it in comparison with the 
means and powers of the Government, The 
Government has shown a commendable dis¬ 
position to do in the general what could be 
made strongly to appear to be necessay for 
the defendant, but it should bear in mind that 
it had employed many, months before the trial 
commenced in preparing this proscution. 

The learned gentlemen conducting the 
'prosecution have had the advantage of all the 
facilities coming from that most efficient de¬ 
partment known as‘the Bureau of Military 
Justice, and I may add, with honor rather 
than disrespect, the advantage of the advice 
and judgment of that truly able and worthy 
public servant, Judge Holt, in devising the 
path for them to pursue. They have had 
money untold at their command. • They have 
had agents, servants, clerks and reporters for 
every convenience and every want. They 
have had the whole or any portion of the de¬ 
tective and military force of the country to 
search up and bring before them any and every 
person who could in any way or by the slight¬ 
est word give them any light upon their side 
of the case. In a word, then, they have had 
all that a great, earnest and all-powerful 


Government could, with prudence, bestow 
accumulating the whole debris of the fal 
Southern Confederacy upon the head of C 
tain Wirz. 

But of this I do not complain, for I rec 
it only in comparison How r is it now w 
the defence? Captain Wirz lies before 3 
with a mind so shattered that he is una 
even to give his counsel reliable informat 
upon the most vital point of his defence, 
has not even the means to procure the nec 
sides of a sick man, much less to defray 1 
expenses incidental to a trial like this, 
has books and documents, but they hi 
until to-day been kept from his counsel 
the Government. He has witnesses, like 1 
Government, in all positions, and in aim 
every State and village in the country. So 
of them have come at his request, but ma 
more are kept away, even after being s 
poenaed, because of their want of means 
come. ' ' • 

Others again write and say, “We h* 
seen the charges, and we can say, from < 
long stay at Andersonville, that such t 
such ones .are not true, but we have 
means to come unless you send it to n 
The places of residence of others ■who : 
most important are known, but they can oi 
be caught by sending messengers to find ( 
and accompany them. But this is not 
Some who have already arrived here, fr 
the necessities of their families and the d 
culty of meeting their expenses, have 1 
and gone away, while others have been 
tained only by advances of money macte 
counsel themselves. Other witnesses ag 
WTite from a distance, under fictitious nam 
asking if they will be protected if they co: 
to testify. Others, who are most imports 
will not come, unless, at great expense, 
send some one to bring them here. Hen 
sickness and misery struggling against 0 
lence and power. Here is abject pove 
grappling with untold millions. Here i: 
poor, destitute, distracted and shut- 
prisoner, with powerless and inefficient coi 
sel, endeavoring to compete with all 1 
ability and powder and means that the m 
powerful Government can bestow to cn 
him. Truly, gentlemen. I may say that ■ 
as his counsel, in all our good intentions 
but presumptious. W r e, in our weakness, 
not insult the majesty of our Governrm 
when we attempt so much. For these rearo 
then, I ask that the Court give us at le 
until a w^eek from nekt Thursday before 
enter into the defence, and if, during 
meantime, for the want of means, we cam 
get together the distantly separated eleme 
of our defence, I, for one, I fear, shall fee 
my duty to relinquish it entirely. Lest 1 
misconstruction be put upon my langua 
and it be said I want confidence in our ca 
I must reiterate that I believe Captain W 
has a good and complete defence. 

Colonel Chipman said' the last remark 
the gentleman w r as an insult to the hund 



THE TRIAL. 


91 


United States soldiers who had testified in 
this case. It was, in effect, a charge that 
they had testified falsely. 

Mr. Baker replied that there coold be no 
such inference drawn from, his remarks. He 
would say the prosecution could not make 
the horrors of Andersonville too bad by the 
language or proof of any of the witnesses. 
We may admit every thing charged to have 
been done, but we may also deny that Captain 
Wirz did it. 

Colonel Chipman—If you had witnessed 
the closing scene here yesterday, you would 
not have made the speech you did. 

Major-General Thomas said that Mr. Baker 
had drawn a comparison between the power of 
J the Government and the helplessness of the 
| prisoner. He believed that every thing had 
J been done by the Government to assist the 
J defence. 

Mr. Baker—We admit it. 

General Thomas—You cannot expect the 
j Government to pay your^xpenses. 

I Colonel Chipman—Th^Government pays 
citizens as witnesses three dollars a day and 
their mileage. 

Mr. Baker—The Government, I admit, has 
shown a commendable disposition. 

Colonel Chipman—I felt bound by my own 
j honor to make the remark I did, and in justice 
j to the witnesses. 

Mr. Baker—I made no insinuation in any 
I way. I respect my Government and those 
■ concerned under it too much to treat them 
j improperly. If I should say something 
which may look disrespectful, the amenities 
, of the Court should be extended to me, in 
| order that a harmless meaning may be at* 

| tached to all I may say. 

The Court, after deliberating with closed 
doors, announced their decision on the appli¬ 
cation of the counsel, namely, overruling the 
motion for an adjournment for a week, but 
j agreeing to adjourn until next Tuesday 
morning, in consideration of the delicate 
health of Mr. Baker. 

The Court then adjourned till Tuesday 
morning. 


FOURTH WEEK OF THE TRIAL—TUES¬ 
DAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

THE DEFENCE. 

Washington, September 26.— Several addi¬ 
tional witnesses were this morning examined 
for the Government. Dr. M. Marsh testified 
that he had been employed as an agent of the 
Sanitary Commission for the States of Geor¬ 
gia, Florida and the Carolinas, from January, 
1862, until the close of the rebellion. The 
witness had sent from Beaufort, large supplies 
of clothing, such as shirts, drawers, pantaloons 
and hats, and also crackers, condensed milk, 
coffee, tea, and other articles of food. The 
arrangement for sending the relief to the pris¬ 


oners was made by General Foster with Gen¬ 
eral Sam Jones, according to which the goods 
were passed over to the agent of the Confed¬ 
erate Government at Charleston. It was 
known in June, 1864, that there was suffering 
at Andersonville, as escaped prisoners gave 
the information. The witness had no evidence 
that the goods were received by the prisoners. 
In November, an order was received from 
Washington not to send them any more sup¬ 
plies. 

Cross-examined—After the goods passed 
from the Sanitary Commission they went into 
the hands of the Confederate agents. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman put in evidence a 
letter of Captain Wirz, dated at Andersonville, 
November 12, 1864, addressed to Captain 
Neely, assistant quartermaster Confederate 
army, in -which the writer acknowledged the 
receipt of eighteen packages of clothing, five 
bales of blankets, one box of shoes, four boxes 
of pants, three boxes of drawers, socks and 
shirts, and stated that he should distribute 
them without delay. 

John B. Jones testified that he had been a 
clerk in the rebel War Department; with re¬ 
gard to General Winder, that officer was very 
unpopular; efforts were made to remove him, 
but unsuccessfully; he did not know whose 
particular favorite General Winder was; the 
latter frequently went to President Davis’ and 
Secretary Benjamin’s offices; as there was a 
clamor for Winder’s removal as provost mar¬ 
shal, and as Winder was not removed, the pre¬ 
sumption was that he was sustained by Presi¬ 
dent Davis. 

Philip Cashmeyer testified that he was in 
the rebel service four years, and -was employed 
as a detective under General Winder; the rela¬ 
tions between General Winder and President 
Davis were friendly; he had often heard Gene¬ 
ral Winder say so, and had frequently seen him 
go to Davis’ house; when the order came from 
the War Department to relieve General Winder 
as provost marshal, he went to President 
Davis, who indorsed the order with the words, 
“ It is entirely unnecessary and uncalled for,” 
or words to that effect; General Winder was 
sent to Goldsboro’ to take the field, and after¬ 
ward had his powers extended by being 
appointed commissioner general; the witness 
continued with General Winder until he died, 
in South Carolina; General Winder was sent 
by Secretary Seddon to Andersonville, to lay 
out the prison. 

Dr. Lewellyn testified that, as a surgeon at 
Andersonville hospital, he prepared a full re¬ 
port of its condition for the benefit of the 
medical director, making suggestions as to how 
an improvement might be effected. 

Cross-examined.—Dr. White was the chief 
surgeon of the military prisons, and left 
Andersonville about the time General Winder 
died. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman then asked the 
counsel for th6 defence to call their witnesses. 

Mr. Baker said they were not prepared to 









I 


TH B TEX AL. 


92 

go on, but if the Court thought it best they 
would do so. 

Colonel Chipman said that for the last fort- 
night stringent rules and regulations had been 
adopted, so as to prevent the reception by the 
prisoner of any thing clandestinely ; so much 
so that he could not have an interview even 
with his wife, excepting in the presence of an 
officer. Two or three instances had occurred 
in which the rules had been violated. A note 
or letter from the prisoner had been delivered 
by Mr. Schade, one of his counsel, to Mrs. 
Wirz without having been examined, and after 
a remonstrance from the officer to Mr. Schade, 
the latter was seen to hand the prisoner money 
and a slip of paper, which he crushed in his 
hand. This morning a letter was passed by 
the prisoner to Mr. Schade and handed to 
BeUegotti, one of the witnesses. Such prac¬ 
tice was improper. 

The Court asked Mr. Schade whether he 
could give the contents of the letter. 

Mr. Schade did not think it was any harm 
to hand a letter from Captain Wirz to his 
wife, as it related only to private matters, per¬ 
haps clothing. He gave the money to the 
prisoner out of his own pocket to buy him 
food, and as he did this innocently and so fre¬ 
quently, he did not hesitate openly to declare 
it. This morning he received a letter in the 
presence of the officers, and told the prisoner 
there was nothing wrong in it. Not having 
time to carry the letter to Mrs. Wirz, he 
handed it to one of the witnesses for that pur¬ 
pose. He should have that letter produced, 
so that the Court may see for themselves that 
there is nothing improper in it. 

The Court requested Mr. Shade to hand the 
letter to the Judge-Advocate. 

Mr. Schade replied he would. 

Mr. Baker said that he had only heard there 
had been sharp words. He had requested the 
Judge-Advocate to bring out the facts. He 
knew nothing more of the matter than what 
had just been stated.. 

The Judge-Advocate said they had often 
heard of the bribing of sentries. Money was 
not a very ready means for that purpose. 
Counsel must not assume things of that kind 
when the prison officer informs him that such 
practices are against the rule. 

Mr. Schade replied he had not given the 
prisoner more than five dollars at anytime, 
and this was done on the prisoner’s assuring 
him that there was a necessity for his pro¬ 
curing better food. 

Colonel Chipman—He gets all he desires. 

Mr. Schade—He says he does not. 

The Court to Judge Chipman—We wish 
you would inquire into that, and see whether 
the prisoner is suffering from any deprivation. 

Mr. Baker—I am satisfied the captain fares 
as w dll as any one could under the circum¬ 
stances, with the exception of such little deli¬ 
cacies as a man in his feeble condition re¬ 
quires. I hope nothing more of the kind will 
come up. 


i Mr. Schade—The prisoner says he only g 
two cups of milk and two eggs. 

The Court—Mr. Schade, you must get t 
letter. • 

Father Hamilton, called for the defen< 
testified that while he was engaged in 1 
ministerial duties at Andersonville, Capta 
Wirz was doing every thing in his power 
promote the physical and spiritual comfort 
the prisoners. 

Father Wheelan testified to the same offer 
he saw Captain Wirz commit no personal v: 
lcnce, although he had made use of profane ia 
guage; men were hunted by the dogs, but; 
never heard that any one -was torn by i. 
hounds ; Captain Wirz gave him permission 
distribute supplies among the prisoners ; wh: 
he was there he never heard of Captain Wi 
killing or striking a man with his pistol, 
kicking a man so that he died or was laid u 

Cross-examined by Colonel Chipman—I 
did not say that Captain Wirz did not do su< 
things, but that if he did it was probable 1 
should have heara of the facts ; he heard fre 
the prisoners that Captain Wirz was vicio 1 
and harsh. 

Direct examination resumed—Several oth 
clergymen were also at the prison. 

By the Court—The witness said he bong! 
some flour in January; it was for the bene 
of the prisoners, without distinction of sect 
creed ; he had frequently heard prisoners coi 
plain that they did not get enough to eat; I 
did not know whether spoiled meat was fu 
nished or not, as he was too much engaged 
looking after souls ; he could not say positiv 
ly to how many persons in prison he had a 
ministered spiritual relief; perhaps fiftei 
hundred or two thousand; perhaps not 
many. 

Mr. Baker said he understood these t? 
witnesses had made exertions to visit Capta 
Wirz as his spiritual advisers, but they cou 
not obtain permission to do so until after thi 
had testified as witnesses. Ho desired th 
they be furnished with certificates that th< 
had testified. 

The Court said they had nothing to do wi 
that. It was for. the officer of the priso 
under arrangement with the Secretary 
War; therefore the application of counsel w 
superfluous. ‘ 

Mr. Baker—The Secretary of War said 1 
would give the permission. 

The Court—That is for the Secretary, ai 
not for the Court. 

Colonel Fannin, of the first regiment < 
Georgia reserves, under orders from Brig 
dier-General Cobb, went to Andersonville < 
the 9th of May, 1864, and remained the 
until the middle of September; at first tl 
guard did not number more than two or thr 
hundred, but it was increased as the numb' 
of prisoners increased, until there were fro 
twelve to fifteen hundred men; their am 
were in great part flint and steel locks; Ca 
tain Wirz could not punish or reward tl 



the trial. 


lards for any thing they had done; he could 
ant furloughs only when he might be tem- 
irarily acting as commandant of the post; 
e witness never heard while in command of 
furlough being given to a guard for shooting 
Union prisoner. 

Question by Mr. Parker—Did Captain Wirz 
er apply to you to have a furlough given to 
y guard for shooting a Union prisoner? 
The Court sustained the objection as raised 
the Judge-Advocate. 

Q. Did ever a guard apply to you for a 
•lough on the ground of shooting a Union 
tsoner ? A. I do not know of such appli- 
tion upon that ground. 

The witness said that Turner, the owner of 
3 dogs which had been alluded to during this 
al, belonged to his regiment; this man in 
ly was commanded by General Winder to 
port to him, which he did, and General 
inder ordered him to procure a pack of dogs; 
3se dogs were employed to hunt Confederate 
well as Union deserters; the sentences of 
nfederate court-martials for offences were 
•ging up the swamps and the ball and chains; 
Japtain Wirz had kicked, shot and maltreat- 
prisoners, it is probable that he should have 
ird of it; he frequently made requisitions 
the quartermaster for tools, but was un- 
e to obtain them; there was a good deal of 
imbling among the troops about the rations, 

1 desertions occurred from that cause ; Cap¬ 
ri Wirz was sick last summer near Ander- 
iville, and was absent from the post some 
3ks; this was in August; the witness fre- 
3ntly heard whipping in the stockade at 
ht from the -sound of the lick, screams and 
iting going on; this was at the time the 
ders so much disturbed the camp; six of 
latter were hanged; Captain Wirz having 
viously turned them over to a jury of the 
ion prisoners. 

'he Commission then adjourned. 


WEDNESDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, Sept. 27—The examination of 
onel Fannin was resumed from yesterday 
the defence. 

Ir. Baker asked the witness whether he 
rd General Cobb in his speech at Ander- 
ville, make use of the remarks attributed 
lim by the witness, Mr. Walker. 
udge-Advocate Chipman objected to the 
stion for' reasons which he stated, and 
objection was sustained by the Court, 
he witness then testified that he heard 
Leral Cobb make a speech about the 4th 
\tarch, 1865 He could not precisely 
te what the General said, but his address 
more to the troops than to others, as 
■e had been great disaffection in the cafnp, 
men were constantly deserting. He in- 
id that the soldiers should do their duty, 
uestion by Mr. Baker—Did you or not at 
time hear General Cobb make use of 
language— 


93 

Judge-Advocate Chipman (interrupting) 
requested that the question be reduced to 
writing and that the witness retire; whereupon 
the witness retired. 

Mr. Baker regarded this as a personal insult 
to him. 

Colonel Chipman replied that the practice 
was not unusual, and that it was a greater in¬ 
sult for the counsel to insist on asking im- 
> proper questions. 

Mr. Baker said that the Government wit¬ 
nesses had, day in and day out, been examined 
in the presence of one another, and now that 
those for the defence were to be examined 
counsel were to reduce their questions to writ¬ 
ing, and the witnesses to retire until this was 
done. If this was insisted upon by this Court 
he must stop. 

The Court remarked that Mr. Baker took 
a rather unfair view of the subject. The 
Judge-Advocate did not ask him to put all 
his questions in writing, but only this one. 

Mr. Baker—I never made such a request 
when the witnesses for the Government were 
under examination. 

Colonel Chipman—If you do not do your 
duty that is no reason I should not do mine. 
The Court—State what you want. 

Mr. Baker—I must reply to the Judge-Ad¬ 
vocate. ° 

The Court—We don’t want any speeches. 
Let the room be cleared. 

When the doors were reopened the witness 
came in, and the President of the Court read 
from De Hart’s Military Law to show that the 
Judge-Advocate was justified in the course he 
had taken. Besides, when the Judge-Advocate 
anticipated a question of a leading character, 
he had a right to require the question to be 
reduced to writing, and submitted to him. 
He was right either in asking that the room 
be cleared, or that the witness temporarily 
retire. 

Mr. Baker—To that I have no objection. 
The Court—That settles the point. 

Mr. Baker—But I object to the witness 
again being sent away. 

The Court—The witness may again be re¬ 
quested to retire and the question be reduced 
to writing, if it should be thought proper to 
do so. 

Mr. Baker—Before doing so the Judge-Ad¬ 
vocate should hear my questions, or give 
notiee that he will make— 

/The Court—We remarked that the Court 
will take care of its own honor and dignity. 

Mr. Baker—I do object to the sending of 
our witnesses away. 

The Court-—The question is very well 
settled. 

Colonel Chipman—I said “ Colonel Fannin 
will please retire.” 

Mr. Baker—I ask the same civility I extend 
to you. 

Colonel Chipman—Have I not done it ? 

Mr. Baker—-I don’t think so, although I 
know your heart is good in that respect. 

Mr. Baker waived his questions, and Colonel 






94 


THE TRIAL. 


Fannin was then further examined with refer¬ 
ence to affairs at Andersonville. 

Colonel Chipman read to the Court the 
following letter, addressed to him: 

Old Capitol Prison, Washington D. C., 
September 27, 1865—Sir: Your communi¬ 
cation, dated .the 26th instant, in which 
you state that the counsel for Wirz stated 
to-day, in defence for his giving money, &c., 
to the prisoner to procure something to eat, 
that he could not get at the Old Capitol those 
things he needed, and intimating he was not 
well cared for by you, and requesting me to 
report instantly what treatment he receives:. 
I have the honor to inform you that Captain 
Wirz is treated in every respect as leniently 
as is consistent with his position and com¬ 
patible with my duties. H$ is furnished with 
a cot and bedding such as are used in the 
United States medical department, and 
furnished with a mosquito bar; if he chooses 
to eat the prison fare, he is furnished with 
the same rations allowed soldiers of the 
United States army, with the addition, four 
times per week, of the principal fresh vege¬ 
tables in the market. 

If unwell, he is supplied with such diet as 
may be prescribed by the surgeon of the 
prison, which is procured from the prison 
funds. He is also permitted to procure such 
eatables as he may be able to purchase. He 
is also allowed any books that can be prpcured. 
The only restraint to which he is subjected is 
that placed upon his liberty, and such precau¬ 
tions as will preclude his committing any 
injury to himself. I think if Captain Wirz 
is interrogated he will verify this statement. 

Yery respectfully, your obedient servant, 
George West. 

Capt. and Military Sup’t Old Capitol prison. 
To Col. Chipman, Judge-Advocate Military 

Commission for trial of Wirz. 

It will be recollected that Colonel Chipman 
yesterday called attention to the fact that 
Mr Schade, one of the counsel for Captain 
Wirz, had received two letters from the pris¬ 
oner for delivery to his wife, and had spoken 
of such proceedings as improper. He to-day 
read to the Court one of those letters, as 
follows: 

Old Capitol Prison, Sept. 26, 1865-^-My 
dearest Wife: I have been* hoping to see 
you on Sunday, and also yesterday. God 
only knows how I wish to see you. Lize, I 
have one thing to ask of you, and do it im¬ 
mediately, if you can. Send Mr. Schade ten 
dollars. It is for a certain purpose. I send 
you an envelope directed to him. Just put 
the money in; you need not write; all that 
it requires is to put a post stamp on it, and 
send it off. I am somewhat better. I hope 
to see you to-morrow. 

• Yours, H. Wirz. 

Mr. Schade remarked it was true he took 
letters from the prisoner to be delivered to 
his wife, but knew nothing of their contents. 
He certainly acted with the most innocent 
intention. 


The Court was cleared for deliberation, 
when the doors were reopened Major-Gen 
Wallace, the President of the Court, addr 
ing Mr. Schade, said his conduct in 
premises was fully appreciated by et 
member, but considering the stage -of 
trial, and fearing that any further action w< 
be detrimental to the prisoner, they had < 
eluded to let the matter drop. *‘I am of 
opinion,” he added, “ that you are now s 
ciently warned.” 

Lieutenant John F. Heath, of the third G< 
gia reserves, testified that in the summer 
1864, Captain Wirz was sick and expected to 
He had seen the defendant take from a 
of Federal prisoners, one half of the veg 
bles which they had bought. 

Doctor Caslen testified there was a g 
deal of complaint among the troops at 
insufficient rations; the clothing was 's 
inferior, and there was no diet suitable 
the sick. He had never heard of Cap 
Wirz maltreating prisoners, and knew 
no cases of starvation, emaciation, and w 
ing away. There was much complaint 
North Carolina and elsewhere about imp 
virus for vaccination. 

Mr. Baker said they could show that f] 
this cause many private families were s 
and expected to die. 

The witness said that the order to vaccir 
was imperative, Dr. Cummings coming to 
dersonville under the orders of . the surge 
general for that purpose. 

Colonel Parsons testified he was first t 
to Andersonville as commandant of the p 
by General Winder, in Febuary, 1864; t 
tain Wirz came there in March; the latt 
local orders were framed by himself, but 
general orders came from General Wint 
Captain Wirz urged that the hospital be 
moved out of the stockade; the witness 
titioned General Winder to permit this to 
.done, and his impression was that Gen 
Winder declined, when the witness assiu 
the responsibility of having the hospital 
moved; afterward General Winder gave 
permission; Captain Wirz protested aga 
crowding any more prisoners at Ander; 
ville; General Winder ordered the dogs t 
employed; the witness never saw Turn 
but had seen Harris’ dogs; they were c 
mon rabbit dogs, and sometimes used 
catching negroes ; Captain Wirz expres 
great displeasure at the meagreness of supp 
and the deficiency of the quartermaster’s 
partment. The witness never heard of ( 
tain Wirz giving furloughs for shooting Ui 
prisoners; if such had been given he w< 
have heard of it; the witness, as commai 
of the post, gave furloughs for under sc 
days, but all over that time were granted 
General Winder; if any extraordinary 
lence had been practiced by Captain T 
he would have heard of it; there was g 
difficulty in obtaining lumber for the pri 
The Commission then adjourned. 



THE TRIAL. 


95 


THURSDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, Sept. 28—The examination 
i)f Col. Parsons was resumed. While he 
commanded at Andersonville boxes of supplies 
Prom the Sanitary Commission had reached 
there; he had them sent m to the prisoners, 
for which they thanked him; the witness 
never knew of Captain Wirz being absent 
with the dogs; it was a penitentiary offence 
for the Confederates to trade for greenbacks; 
he thought this was so declared by Congress, 
and by a statute of the State of Georgia; the 
country around Andersonville was poor, and 
as a consequence vegetables were scarce; 
goon after some negroes had reached 
Andersonville he addressed a commnication 
to General Winder, asking what disposition 
ghould be made of them; the reply was that 
the question was held in abeyance at Rich¬ 
mond, and until it was settled they should 
be treated as prisoners of war; the witness 
did not know whether sentries were relieved 
atter shooting Union prisoners ; such infor¬ 
mation never reached him ; in the rules and 
regulations for the government of the prison, 
gigned" by Captain Wirz, trading by the pris¬ 
oners was interdicted. 

Cross-examined by Judge Chipman—The 
witness was first assigned to the command of 
the troops, and next to the post; a great effort 
was made to build accommodations ; Captain 
Wirz asumed the responsibility of erecting 
the dead-house. 

The Judge-Advocate—Would it not have 
been more humane to build a shelter for the 
Living ? 

The witness—I think it w r as impracticable 
for Captain Wirz to furnish all the shelter 
required. 

The Judge-Advocate—You do not answer 
my question. 

The witness—Then I answer yes; some 
shelter might have been built. I think the 
quartermaster had not sufficient energy; I 
never exercised the right to punish a prisoner; 
Captain Wirz never received any order for 
that purpose from me; the latter was respon¬ 
sible for what he did there; Captain Wirz 
drew up the orders and regulations, and they 
had my approval ; Captain Wirz labored in- 
defatigably ; whether or not he accomplished 
all he desired I do not know, but I do know 
the prison was not half cared for ; I think the 
responsibility rests on those who crowded so 
many prisoners there. 

By the Court—Captain Wirz drew up the 
prison rules by his own authority; the witness 
approved of them because he thought they 
were right; there w r as no dead-line therein 
provided for; it was subsequently erec-ted by 
virtue, he supposed, of Captain Wirz’s own 
rank. 

Nazareth Allen, third Georgia reserves, who 
had been examined for the prosecution, w r as 
now called for the defence—There was a good 
deal of sickness in his regiment; ow T ing to the 
heavy duty required much dissatisfaction ex¬ 


isted, and some of the men strayed away ; the 
effect of the bad rations was diarrhoea and 
other diseases among the troops ; he saw some 
of his men wearing old clothing which thqy ■ 
had purchased from the Union prisoners: 
when Stoneman’s captured raiders were 
brought to Andersonville they were searched, 
and jewelry, paper money, ladies’ shawls, < 
pocket-books, gold, tablespo’ons, and forks, 
and daguerreotypes taken from them; witness 
never heard that a furlough could be obtained 
for shooting Union prisoners. 

Cross-examined by the Judge-Advocate— 
The witness knew of no soldier dying from 
starvation, or emaciated because of insuffi¬ 
cient food. 

Question—Was the clothing you saw 
on rebel soldiers taken from the dead bodies 
of Union soldiers ? Answer. 1 do not know, 
but believe so. 

Mr. Baker—Tell us all about it. 

The Judge-Advocate objected, saying the 
witness had answered the question. 

Mr. Baker insisted the witness should tell 
all about it. 

The Court—Mr. Baker, your question is 
very improper. 

Mr. Baker—The Judge-Advocate stopped 
the witness. 

The Court—He is the Judge-Advocate’s 
witness. 

Mr. Baker—I must call the attention of 
the court to— 

The Court, interrupting—We don’t want 
to hear it. It is very improper. 

Mr. Baker—Let us have the whole of the 
answer. 

The Court—Let the witness proceed. 
We don’t need any assistance of yours at all. 

The Judge-Advocate—The witness said 
he did not know of his own knowledge. 

Mr. Baker said the Judge-Advocate asked 
the witness a question, but before he had 
half answered it stopped him. The Court 
when Boston Corbett was before them, ordered 
him to go on and complete his answer under 
circumstances similar to these now pending. 

The Court said it was not to be presumed 
that the Judge-Advocate would violate the 
rules of the Court. 

The Judge-Advocate repeated that the 
witness had answered the question. 

The Court asked the witness—Were they 
opinions or facts you were about to state ? 

The witness—My opinions. 

The Court—We have already decided we 
don’t care about opinions. 

Mr. Baker—I ask that the Court pass on 

^ The Court—We have done it repeatedly. 
We don’t care about the opinions of witnesses 
unless they are professional. 

Mr. Baker—The witness was stopped in 
the midst of his answer. 

The Court—We have decided the' question. 
I tell you again we need no argument. If 
you will take your seat I will take the ques¬ 
tion 





96 


THE TRIAL. ; 


The Court voted, when the result was’ an¬ 
nounced, in these words: “The Court don’t 
care about the opinions of witnesses.” 

Other witnesses were then examined for 
the defence, and the Court adjourned. 

FRIDAY'S * PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, September 29.— After the 
Commission assembled this morning-, a note 
was received from a member thereof, General 
Bragg, stating that he was sick, and in com 
sequence unable to be in attendance. The 
Commission, after carefully considering the 
case with closed doors, adjourned till to-mor¬ 
row. 

The Rev. Fathers Wheelan and Hamilton, 
who were brought hither to testify in the Wirz 
case, have left Washington for their homes in 
Georgia. It will be recollected that Captain 
Wirz requested that they be permitted to visit 
him as his spiritual advisers. It is said for 
for some reason unexplained, they failed to 
obtain permission to visit the Old Capitol 
prison for that purpose, and that the Rev. 
Father Boyle of this city lias been alike un¬ 
successful. Father Wheelan is responsible' for 
the repayment of sixteen thousand dollars 
which he had borrowed to purchase supplies 
in alleviation of the prisoners at Anderson- 
ville. 

SATURDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, September 30.—The Wirz 
trial was -resumed to-day. Captain Wright, 
ex-quartermaster at Andersonville was recall¬ 
ed for the defence, and testified that he suc¬ 
ceeded R. B. Winder at that post. The tents 
of his regiment were taken for the use of the 
hospital, and he sought but failed to obtain 
more for that purpose. As to lumber, he was 
equally unsuccessful, the .owners not having 
been paid for what had been previously fur¬ 
nished. An injunction was served upon him 
and others to prevent him from cutting tim¬ 
ber. He had never seen Captain Wirz kick 
prisoners, 

Mr. Baker—Hid you hear Captain Wirz 
complain of the bad condition of affairs ? 

Judge-Advocate Chipman objected to the 
declaration of the prisoner. 

Mr. Baker said he did not ask for Captain 
Wirz’s declaration, but his acts. 

Colonel Chipman remarked that Mr. Baker 
had asked about complaints. 

Mr. Baker said it was competent according 
to the rules of law to show' the kindly disposi¬ 
tion of the accused, in order to refute the alle¬ 
gations that he wilfully and maliciously mur¬ 
dered and maltreated the prisoners. 

The Court remarked they had over and over 
again overruled the question. 

Mr. Baker said he desired to show that Cap¬ 
tain Wirz accompanied his complaints by acts 
to ameliorate the condition of the prisoners. 
He then withdrew that question, and prepared 
another, namely : “ Do you know of any acts 


on the part of Captain Wirz to ameliorate the 
condition of the prisoners 

The witness replied that he could not think 
of any, and among other things said he never 
heard that soldiers received furloughs' for 
shooting Union prisoners ; he had frequently- 
carried vegetables into the stockade for their 
relief, after showing Captain Wirz what lie 
had; the Captain permitted Masonic honors 
to be paid to a deceased prisoner; Lieutenant 
Davis was in charge while Captain Wirz was 
sick. 

Cross-examined by Colonel Chipman—The 
witness had no personal knowledge of wha4 
Captain Wirz did in the stockade, but outside 
of the stockade he knew that the accused put 
prisoners in the stocks and the chain-gang; 
Turner, who had charge of the dogs, told the 
witness that Captain Wirz had promised him 
thirty dollars apiece for capturing prisoners, 
but the witness refused to pay him, not be¬ 
lieving him to be entitled to the money. 

Judge Hall, of Georgia, who had testified 
for the prosecution, was now called as a wit¬ 
ness for the defence. He stated that he had 
been employed by a man named Dykes, against 
Colonel Gibbs and Captain Wright, to restrain 
them by injunction from using Dykes’ ground ‘ 
for burial purposes, and cutting timber on it 
Dykes subsequently withdrew his bill volun¬ 
tarily, when the witness used his influence t- 
have Dykes paid by the Confederate Govern¬ 
ment for any loss he might have sustained. 
The witness described the land in the immedi¬ 
ate vicinity of Andersonville as a poor pine 
barren. Its chief value consisted in its timber, 
-which could be sold to railroad companies for 
fuel or cross-ties. Captain Wirz had applied 
to the witness to prosecute some men who had 
been appropriating provisions and other things 
of that sort belonging to the prisoners. He 
took out a search warrant to find the Stolen 
property, but thought the process *ns unsuc¬ 
cessful. In August, 1864, he saw Captain 
Wirz, whose appearance -was that of a man 
just recovered from a spell of sickness ; he was 
feeble and emaciated: Dogs, in Georgia, are 
used for tracking trifling felons, violators of 
the law, and runaway slaves, but by the laws 
of that .State nobody could be pursued by 
vicious and savage dogs. 

Colonel Chipman objected to the witness 
proceeding on that point, as the subsequent, 
was irrelevant. He resented it as unjust to 
our soldiers, who had periled their lives for 
their country, that they should be put upon 
the ground of and pursued as common felons. 

Mr. Baker said the use of the hounds was 
first authorized and made legal by the laws of 
the United States. The Commanding general 
was authorized to track human beings with 
dogs. 

Major-General Thomas said he knew all 
about that. 

The Court said you mean in Florida. 

Mr. Baker said he did, and might follow up 
the question to show that the people of the 
South were bound by law to do whatever was 



THE TRIAL. 


97 


commanded by the superior military offi¬ 
cers. 

The Court having voted, sustained the ob¬ 
jection raised by the Judge-Advocate. 

The witness, in the course of the further 
examination, said that by the laws of Georgia 
it was made a capital felony to harbor or 
entertain Federal prisoners. 

Cross-examined by Colonel Chipman—The 
witness said his sympathies had been with the 
rebellion; he was a secessionist, and remained 
os such until the close of the rebellion ; he was 
active, and did all he could for it; he had not 
been acting as counsellor the accused ; he had, 
however, been asked questions about law, and 
answered them, and had been in Mr. Baker’s 
office several times ; he went with him to the 
library of the Supreme Court, and pointed out 
the decision of Judge Lampkin. 

Mr. Baker objected to these questions, saying 
that they did not touch any thing which had 
been done in l^ie direct examination. Although 
the witnesses for the prosecution were open to 
reflection, he called the Court to witness that 
he had not reflected upon them. 

Cplonel Chipman said the gentleman surely 
did not understand the status to be because 
he did attack the credibility of witnesses. This 
could be done by the prosecution. He argued 
that he had a right to test this witness’s credi¬ 
bility and respectability in every thing except¬ 
ing the actual conviction of crime, and in that 
event he must produce the record. 

Mr. Baker replied the Judge-Advocate had 
a right do to any thing permitted by law, but 
he had no right to investigate his (Mr. Baker’s) 
character as counsel and discuss it. It was 
known that with counsel every thing was 
sacred. 

Colonel Chipman—I did not know your 
office was a sanctum sanctorum. 

Mr. Baker said he was discussing this case 
so that such proceedings, might be stopped. 

The Court—Everybody knows the custom 
in examining witnesses. 

Mr. Baker—Then why lug these things m ? 

The Court—Why do you take offence ? 

Mr. Baker—Because it looks unkind and 
very bad. 

The Court, after voting, announced the ob¬ 
jection not sustained. 

Examination by Mr. Baker—The witness 
said he had not acted as counsel or adviser 
for Captain Wirz, nor had he advised how the 
defence ought to be shaped; he had not inti¬ 
mated any thing about the defence, any thing 
more than in conversation as a witness. 

W. D. Hammond, of the rebel army, testi¬ 
fied he never saw any of his men shoot Fed¬ 
eral prisoners, but had seen them after they 
were shot; Captain Wirz never, to his know¬ 
ledge, promised furloughs for shooting prison¬ 
ers ; the order was that if the squads could not 
account for their men, they should be deprived 
of their rations; no order was issued to take 
from Stopeman’s raiders any thing more than 
money, knives and forks, and such other arti¬ 
cles as it was supposed they had stolen from 


the residents of the country through which 
they had 'passed ; Confederate soldiers were 
punished like the Union prisoners. 

The Commission then adjourned till Mon¬ 
day 

Ere the Court adjourned, subpoenas were 
issued for Robert E. Lee, Joe Johnson, How¬ 
ell Cobb, and Robert Ould, to attend as wit¬ 
nesses. 


FIFTH WEEK OF THE TRIAL—MON¬ 
DAY'S PROCEEDINGS. 

SECOND WEEK OF THE DEFENCE 

Washington, October 2.—W, D. Hammock, 
connected with the late rebel service, testified 
that the Confederates could buy overcoats and 
other articles of the Union prisoners. On one 
occasion the paroled prisoners obtained a suit 
of clothes apiece from the supply of the United 
States Sanitary goods received at Anderson- 
vflle. 

On his cross-examination by Colonel Chip- 
man, the witness said that he never saw Cap¬ 
tain Wirz beat any of the prisoners of war, 
but he had seen him take hold of men occa¬ 
sionally, and throw them into their places, 
speaking to them in a profane manner, he being 
of a violent temper. Witness had smuggled 
onions, etc.-, into the stockade, selling them at 
a profit to the‘prisoners. 

After the examination of this witness, Gen¬ 
eral Bragg retired from the Court-room. 

Judge-Advoeate Chipman then read an 
order from the War Department relieving 
General Bragg from duty on the Military Com¬ 
mission. 

Mr. Baker—What is the reason for this ? I 
should like to know it. 

The Court—You cannot ascertain. It is 
none of your business. 

Mr. Baker—Can I not be permitted to ad¬ 
dress a few words to the Court ? 

The Court—No sir, nor make a.motion. It 
is none of your business. You have nothing 
to do with the orders of this Court. 

Mr. Baker—Then I must object to your 
action. 

The 0ourt—There is no objection about it. 
Go on with your examination. 

Yincent Bardo, an Italian, testified that he 
was the man who blacked his face in order to 
make his escape. He hoped, after having 
blacked his face, by mixing in with a gang of 
out-going negroes, to get away; but he was 
caught and punished by twenty-five lashes, and 
being put in the clmin-gang. 

Mr. Baker to Captain Wirz—Captain, stand 
up. 

Mr. Baker to the witness—Is this the man 
who ordered you to be whipped and put in the 
stocks ? 

The witness—No, sir; that is not the man; 
I know that old Dutch captain; I do not know 
who issued the order for my punishment. 




98 


THE TRIAL. 


■ 


Other witnesses were then examined, when 
the Commission adjourned. 

TUESDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, October 3. —Joseph Thurin- 
ger, eighteenth veteran reserve corps, testified 
that from December 21,1861, to Marh 4,1862, 
he was a prisoner at Tuscaloosa, Alabama; 
there were five hundred prisoners there under 
charge of Wirz, who was at that time a ser¬ 
geant. 

Mr. Schade said he was going to show by 
this witness that Wirz, at that place, received 
seven or eight hundred dollars in gold from 
the prisoners, the witness being one of them, 
and that they were permitted to draw money 
from time to time, and the balance returned 
to them without any reduction whatever. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman supposed the 
counsel proposed to prove good reputation, but 
such a defence was an improper one. A man 
may be honest up to twenty-four hours of the 
time that he may meditate murder. Good 
characters can be shaken only by general repu¬ 
tation. The offences charged, occurred at 
Andersonville, and no prior conduct could be 
admitted. He repeated,,particular acts could 
not be offered to show good reputation. Wirz 
might have committed four kind acts, but also 
ninety-six cruel ones. 

Mr. Schade said the prisoner was charged 
with high crimes, and therefore it was necess¬ 
ary to show that the defendant was a good man 
four years ago, while in charge of a prison at 
Tuscaloosa. 

The witness then, in reply to the question 
" Are you acquainted with the character of 
Captain Wirz for humanity and kindness?” 
said he knew nothing about it ; never even 
heard any particular remarks on the subject. 

Mr. Schade said that when the prosecution 
closed, and the defence was about to com¬ 
mence, the counsel for the prisoner asked that 
t here be an adjournment of eight days, in order 
that they might make the requisite prepara¬ 
tion. He now asked that the Commission ad¬ 
journ until to-morrow week. This was neces¬ 
sary, in order to do justice to the prisoner, as 
well as to themselves. With a view to save 
expense, they had discharged several wit¬ 
nesses whose testimony would come under that 
character which had been ruled to be irrele¬ 
vant. By an adjournment the Government 
would not be the loser, for they would be able 
to finish the trial much sooner. 

The Court—We understand you have wit¬ 
nesses in the city. 

Mr. Schade—We have. 

The Court—Then go on.* 

Mr. Schade—We will have to wait till the 
witnesses come. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman—The Court is 
not responsible for the delay of witnesses; he 
knew from experience that preliminary ex¬ 
amination of-witnesses could progress at the 
rate of twenty-five a day. Every adjournment 
of the Court had been of as much benefit to 


the defence as to the prosecution. Some of the 
witnesses for the defence had been here more 
than a month, and every power which the 
Government possessed had been employed to 
enable the defendant to bring them hither. He 
took occasion to say .that certain parties men¬ 
tioned in: the newspapers (meaning Generals 
Lee and Johnson and others) had not been 
subpoenaed, but he had been informed that ap¬ 
plication would be made to bring them into 
Court. The prosecution had been more than 
usually liberal, including the furnishing to the 
counsel for the defence of a copy of the daily 
record. There being two gentlemen engaged 
as. counsel, one of them could devote his time 
to the preliminary examination of these wit¬ 
nesses, while the other could be in constant 
attendance in Court. The record showed that 
every indulgence had been granted to counsel, 
both within and outside of the law. 

Mr. Schade alluded to the fact that the rec¬ 
ord of the prosecution occupied three thou¬ 
sand five hundred and eighty pages, nearly 
twenty-nine hundred of which are devoted to 
the prosecution. It was, therefore, necessary 
the defence should have time to preliminarily 
examine witnesses on the many points in¬ 
volved in so large a mass of testimony. 

Several members of the Court expressed 
themselves to the effect that ample time had 
already been given. 

The’ Court, after deliberating with closed 
doors, informed Mr. Schade that they under¬ 
stood seventeen witnesses for the defence were 
now in the city, exclusive of those who had 
been examined and discharged, and under these 
circumstances the Court were of the opinion 
the counsel must go on until the examination 
of these seventeen witnesses was exhausted. 
If not, the Court would take the matter, into 
their own hands and assign the Judge-Advo¬ 
cate to the examination of these witnesses. 

Mr. Schade remarked ho.could not say any 
thing until he had consulted his colleague. 

The Court—It is his duty to be here. As 
he knows the hours of business the Court can¬ 
not wait on him. 

None of the witnesses being in attendance 
excepting an Italian, who could not speak to 
be understood, they were sent after, the Court 
declaring a recess of a half an hour to await 
their coming. Mr. Baker, after whom an 
orderly had been despatched, arrived during 
the recess. 

On reassembling, Mr. Baker said that when 
the defence commenced they had witnesses 
who had previously been privately examined. 
Their testimony was of such a character that 
they were able to go on thus far. The Court, 
yesterday, could not fail to see the difficulties 
under whjch they labored. The most import¬ 
ant witnesses had yet to be called for the de¬ 
fence. They could not put them upon the 
stand until they go over and arrange their 
testimony. It could not be expected that the 
witnesses should be examined at random. A 
reasonable time should therefore be allowed 
this morning. He suggested to his associate 



THE TRIAL. 


99 


that he was trying to obtain an assistant who 
should come into Court and assist him in the 
examination of ‘witnesses, while he (Mr. 
Baker) would remain at his office and prepare 
for the testimony in the form of questions. 

Major-General Wallace said that in civil 
Courts nothing was more common than to 
continue cases, but it was not thought that 
any cases could be found by which time was 
given to counsel to arrange questions and an¬ 
swers of witnesses. He thought the decision 
of the Court to-day was right. 

Mr. Baker—I did not hear the ruling of the 
Court, being absent. 

General Wallace directed the ruling to be 
read for Mr. Baker’s information 

Mr. Baker said that if it came to the point 
that he must go on without knowing to what 
the witnesses would testify, he must give up 
the case. He had bestowed much labor upon 
it, and was still willing to do all in his power 
for his clieift. 

After further conversation the room was 
cleared for deliberation, and when the doors 
were opened, at fifteen minutes of the usual 
hour of adjournment, General Wallace said, 
to facilitate your labors, Mr. Baker, the Court 
will transact no business to-day, and will ad¬ 
journ till ten o’clock to-morrow morning. The 
Court accordingly adjourned. 

WEDNESDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, Oct. 4.—A. Moesner testified 
that after he had been taken prisoner to An- 
dersonville he was paroled and sent to Captain 
Wirz’s office as clerk ; he had to carry orders 
to the. stockade, and the morning reports to 
General Winder’s headquarters ; the requisi¬ 
tions were made out. every day; they stated 
the ntimber of prisoners inside, and those on 
duty outside the stockade; the quantity of 
rations was left blank; the Commissary could 
see how many men were present, and he would 
then know the number of rations he had to 
furnish; every morning a list was made out 
of the number of rations each detachment had 
to get from the cook-house; the witness 
carried thdt list to Duncan, and left it with 
him; he did not remember of the rations 
being stopped for the entire camp ; they were 
sometimes stopped in a squad when a man 
was reported missing; as soon as the Federal 
sergeant could answer for the man the rations 
were returned; boxes from the North arrived 
three times; some were sent by the Sanitary 
Commission, and some by the friends of the 
prisondVs ; the witness saw many boxes out¬ 
side of the stockade, and one of the clerks 
told him those boxes were for men who could 
not be found, or who had died; when the 
second lot of boxes was received Lieutenant 
Davis was in command, and gave the contents of 
the boxes to the men outside of the stockade. 

There were thirty-three thousand prisoners 
inside the stockade at that time; the third 
lot of boxes was received in November, and 


contained blankets and clothing; these were 
taken to the storehouse near Captain Wirz’s 
office; he sent down for all the paroled men, 
about one hundred and fifty, and every one 
of them got a whole spit of clothes, excepting 
shoes; about fifty pairs of shoes were received, 
and we gave them to those who were most 
in need of them; the other things yrere turned 
over to the hospital. The witness had seen 
some colored men get things, but not all; a 
Confederate sergeant was in charge of the 
colored men, and he came over and obtained 
some clothing; there may have been thirty 
or forty boxes belonging to prisoners who 
could not be found; Captain Wirz had nothing 
to do with the boxes after they were turned 
over to the surgeons. Witness had sold a 
pair of pants he had received from Wirz to 
a Confederate sergeant for five dollars, with 
which he had bought a blanket; General 
Winder gave an order tn search Stoneman’s 
raiders. 

The boxes were searched to ascertain 
whether they contained liquors ; Captain Wirz 
gave Duncan some tools, picks and shovels, 
in order that the prisoners could dig wells; 
he also gave Duncan orders to provide the pris¬ 
oners with barrels to put in the wells to keep 
the dirt from falling in; there was a detail of one 
hundred and fifty men to clean the camp ; it was 
a very hard matter to obtain shovels and picks, 
but he finally obtained about seventy-five; it 
was a common thing to see some of the tools 
broken; about forty or fifty boys were in the 
stockade, and Wirz requested Dr. White to 
take them into the hospital to help the nurses 
and cooks; he said if he had his way he would 
send these boys into the Union lines, as it 
was of no use to keep them prisoners of 
war, and that they would only get sick and 
die; these^boys were then taken to the hos¬ 
pital ; on one occasion the witness was sick 
with the dysentery, and asked the doctor for 
some medicine, when the doctor replied that 
he had been sick himself with the same 
disease, but had no medicine; he, however, 
told the witness to go and get blackberries, 
which he did, and was cured; Captain Wirz 
gave an order that these boys should gather 
blackberries for the sick, which they did ; 
the witness afterward understood that the 
nurses made pies out of them, and that the 
sick got none ; Dr. White, as the small-pox 
was increasing, gave orders that the prisoners 
should be vaccinated ; Captain Wirz said to 
a man who refused to be vaccinated that he 
did not care if the latter should die, the order 
not having been given by himself; the chain- 
gang was formed under Winder’s orders ; 
when a plot had been matured by the pris¬ 
oners to escape, Captain Wirz said he would 
abstain from shooting as long as he could. 

Captain Wirz was sick in July, and also 
during August. So far as the witness recol¬ 
lected, Lieutenant Davis was in command. 

In September Wirz came back very sick; 
the witness never heard of anybody dying at 




100 


THE TRIAL. 




Wirz’s headquarters, nor of his having beaten 
or shot a man. 

Mr. Baker asked the witness if such a thing 
had been done, was he not in such a relation that 
he would have known of the circumstance ? 

Colonel Chipman objected to the question, 
for the reason, mainly, that the acceptance 
of the answer would be placing too much re¬ 
liance on the negative testimony of the wit¬ 
ness, which was simply an opinion. 

Mr. Baker briefly argued that the question 
was a legitimate one, and in all criminal pros¬ 
ecutions could be asked. 

The Court sustained the objection. 

The witness among other things testified 
that the hospital attendants serenaded Captain 
Wirz and Surgeons Stevenson and White. 

Cross-examined by Judge-Advocate Chip- 
man—Witness came from Germany tn 1862, 
and gave the particulars of his entering the 
United States service ; he applied to Captain 
Wirz for clerical duty, stating in his letter 
that he was acquainted with about four lan¬ 
guages ; he also stated that he was a German 
from Frankfort-on-the-Main ; the position of 
clerk was better outside than confinement 
inside the stockade; if, while serving as a 
clerk, Captain Wirz had asked him to do 
any thing inconsistant with his oath to the 
United States he would have refused it; he 
served Captain Wirz as far as that oath per¬ 
mitted ; the witness received double rations, 
one of which he sold to Captain Wirz for 
eighty cents Confederate money ; he did not 
know what Wirz did with it: Wirz had the 
power to both issue and stop the rations to 
the prisoners, and he exercised it; Wirz never 
signed or approved requisitions for hospitals, 
as he did not exercise Control over rations 
for them. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman asked a question 
relating to General Winder’s order about the 
chain-gang. 

The witness went on to speak about some 
other matter, and had evidently commenced 
a long story. 

Colonel Chipman requested him to confine 
himself to the question. 

Mr. Baker wanted his witness a full oppor¬ 
tunity to explain. If the gentleman did not 
treat the witness fairly, he would put no 
more on the stand. * 

Major-General Geary thought Mr. Baker 
ought to have more sense. He was becoming 
tired of that course of the counsel, and would 
not stand it. At every turn the counsel 
threatened the Court. It was a little too 
much, and he was disposed to stop it if nobody 
else would. It was an outrage on the Court. 

Mr. Baker said he had not threatened the 
Court. 

General Geary replied—Counsel had re¬ 
peatedly threatened not to do this or that 
unless the Court should accede to his wishes, 
and that he would put no more witnesses on 
the stand. 

Mr. Baker, in explanation, said he had 


asked the Judge-Advocate to stop, but the 
latter paid no attention to him. If he was 
thus to be treated, there was but little use 
in putting witnesses on the stand. 

The President informed Mr. Baker that 
he had been repeatedly told he must make his 
objection to the Court, and not to the Judge- 
Advocate. 

The cross-examination was resumed. The 
witness testified positively that Wirz was not 
on duty from the 4th to the 20th of Au¬ 
gust. 

George W. Frehnor testified he was taken 
prisoner as a spy in Tennessee, made his 
escape, but was recaptured in Mississippi, and 
sent to Richmond, and afterward to Ander- 
sonville, .where he arrived in June, 1864; he 
acted as a prison sutler, and also as a magis¬ 
trate ; before him men were brought for steal¬ 
ing, and were punished by flogging, being set 
to work, and washed ; a number of men were 
banded together, and took by force*what was 
not their own, such as watches, money, cloth¬ 
ing, food, and tin cups; a police force was 
organized called the “regulators,” to put 
down the raiders ; on one occasion the raiders 
tried to put down the “regulators,” when 
the latter called for and obtained assistance, 
from Captain Wirz; eleven of the raiders were 
arrested, six of whom were hanged, and five 
placed in the chain-gang. 

The witness, among other surprising state¬ 
ments, said there were five or six working 
shoemakers in the stockade, as many tailors, 
and two watchmakers, and the streets of the 
camp were filled with soup-jobbers, and at 
the roughly constructed tables could be bought 
ham and eggs, tea, coffee, &c.; there were five 
hundred bakers in the stockade who baked 
and sold pies and cakes ; there was plenty of 
flour, saleratus, &c.: the witness had an es¬ 
tablishment called the “ novelty” store; he 
had a greater variety than any other person 
in camp, and sold flour, hams, chickens, 
pepper, sorghum, beans, peas, &c., besides 
medicines. 

The witness further testified that there was 
a half million of greenback currency in camp ; 
there were also in camp barbers’ shops, 
clothiers, brokers, engaged in buying paper 
money, checks, and gold and silver; in one 
of the jeweler’s shops he saw fifty watches 
and breastpins and rings to be repaired; the 
owner of this shop kept a journeyman. The 
•witness said that there were fuel and lumber 
merchants also at the prison at Andersonville, 
and that lots were purchased at reasonable 
rates within the stockade, on which shanties 
were erected ; there were also gamblers there, 
who had runners out to hunt up victims. 
The witness testified to many other things 
showing extensive trade and thrift at tha 
prison; men suffered from exposure, but he 
could not say men suffered from hunger; ther# 
were about a thousand dealers in various 
kinds of food and goods. 

The Court then adjourned. 




THE TRIAL. 


101 


THURSDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, Oct. 5.—George W.Trebner, 
who yesterday testified before the Commis¬ 
sion to the thriving business affairs at Ander- 
lonville, &c., was cross-examined by Judge- 
Advocate Chipman. He said he was living at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, before he entered the service 
nt Lagrange, Kentucky, in the second Ken¬ 
tucky mounted infantry, in September, 1862, 
and was captured the same month at New¬ 
castle, Kentucky; he was acting as second - 
lieutenant; never received any pay or bounty 
from the Government; there were only twenty 
men in witness’s company and one hundred 
and twenty-four in the whole regiment; the 
regiment was unorganized, and was. on its way 
to central Kentucky for recruits; they were 
surrounded by rebel guerrillas, and went into 
the fight unorganized; all had muskets, offi¬ 
cers and all; the witness and his regiment 
were fighting equal numbers, and fought one 
hour, but were finally obliged to surrender; 
no one of witness’s regiment was killed or 
wounded in the fight; Colonel Morris was 
colonel of the regiment; a rebel soldier claimed 
that he recognized witness, and they arrested 
him as a spy; they took from witness a fac 
simile of Confederate money and a parole; 
the parole was not to take up arms against the 
Confederacy while the rebels were in Ken¬ 
tucky: 

The witness arrived at Andersonville on 
June 1st, 1864, and had nothing with him but 
his clothes ; he-started business there by sell¬ 
ing his daily rations of corn bread for ten 
cents, and subsisted on the balance of his 
ration, which was bacon and a pint of raw 
j beans; about the tenth of June, witness pur¬ 
chased sixteen dozen of eggs at three dollars 
and fifteen cents per dozen; purchased them 
on tick ; that could be done there among men of 
honor, and witness always considered himself a 
man of honor wherever he went; the witness 
did not rob any one; he always considered it 
consistent with his honor to trade with any 
man; witness generally gave a portion of the 
money he made to his friends; when he left An¬ 
derson ville, on August 4th, he had five hundred 
and twenty dollars in greenbacks; at one time 
lie had five thousand dollars; witness pur¬ 
chased and sold flour, beans, peas, potatoes, 
apples, butter, onions, sorghum syrup, &c.; 
kad purchased two barrels of sorghum; flour 
was seventy dollars per sack, and witness pur- 
: closed a sack each day, and some days his 
sales of flour amounted to one thousand; po¬ 
tatoes were fifty dollars per sack, and onions 
were sixty dollars per sack; they were pur¬ 
chased of the post adjutant; witness bought 
onions and potatoes daily. 

The witness said he never committed, nor 
. was he ever charged with any crime, and was 
never in the penitentiary; he did not take the 
oath to the rebel Government, or make promi¬ 
ses to it; he deliberately falsified on entering 
the stockade at Andersonville, in claiming to 


be treated as an officer ; there were at Ander¬ 
sonville, fifty wells and four hundred and fifty 
springs, none of which, however, yielded a 
bucketfull at a time ; the water was pure and 
clean; there were five hundred bakers in the 
stockade, all of whom had bake-houses; Ander¬ 
sonville was a city; there were half a dozen 
real estate dealers in the stockade, who sold 
sites on the principal avenues and streets; 
everybody in turn was a wood merchant; ho 
had seen thirty on the streets at a time. 

The dealers sold ham and eggs, beefsteaks, 
honey, fruit, cakes, beer, &c.; any one could get 
a meal for ten dollars in greenbacks, and be fur¬ 
nished with biscuits, tea or coffee, fried steak, 
onions and potatoes; a thimblefull of whiskey 
sold for three dollars ; he had seen as many as 
twenty barber-shops at one time ; some of tiro 
barbers acted as doctors, and had medicines for 
sale, and also dyed the prisoners’ whiskers; he 
had seen men cut their own throats and die ; he 
did not know the reason, excepting they were 
skin and bone, and in a destitute condition. 

Judge-Advocate—Did you not say yester 
day you never knew a prisoner to suffer from 
hunger ? 

Witness—I said so yesterday. 

Judge-Advocate—Will you explain the in¬ 
consistency in your two statements ? 

Witness—The men were wasted by sickness 
in Washington. 

The Judge-Advocate wanted the witness to 
confine himself to affairs at Andersonville. 

The witne& said the dealers could get out 
by paying the sergeant at the gate five dol¬ 
lars. He used to make purchases at a house 
five miles distant, of butter, eggs, honey, 
plums, apples and tobacco, to be sold to cus¬ 
tomers in the stockade. He used to sell medi¬ 
cine for the diarrhoea, a dollar and a quarter or 
a dollar and a half for a cup full. He also sold 
medicines for retail to the barbers. The wit 
ness said he sold the bread portion of his 
ration, and ate the remainder. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman asked him 
whether he was sure of that. 

The witness (with apparent anger) asked 
“ am I under oath ?” 

The Judge-Advocate replied, if he asked his 
opinion, it did not look as if it mattered 
whether he was under oath or not. 

The Court informed Colonel Chipman that 
that remark was improper.' 

Mr. Baker—Never mind; I am going to 
object. 

The Court—There is no need of objection. 

Mr. Baker—Have I not a right ? 

The Court—We have already reprimanded 
the Judge-Advocate. 

Major-General Wallace asked if clothing 
was so plentiful there, how was it so many 
men were ragged ? The witness replied, be¬ 
cause they had no money to buy; he saw men 
in the stockade without shoes, stockings and 
hats; about one-half of the men might be 
called ragged; one-fourth of the men there 
had among them five hundred thousand dol¬ 
lars. 


✓ 





102 


THE TRIAL. 


FRIDAY'S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, Oct. 6. —Augustus Klech, of 
the eighth Pennsylvania cavalry, testified that 
he was taken as prisoner to Andersonville; 
that Captain Wirz was sick in August, and 
continued so for a month ; in the meanwhile 
Lieutenant Davis was in command ; he never 
heard nor saw Captain Wirz shoot or injure 
a man. 

Cross-examined by Colonel Chipman—The 
witness was the hostler of Captain Wirz, and 
obtained the place outside the stockade be¬ 
cause there was not enough to eat within; 
those outside obtained double rations ; he drew 
clothing twice; he knew Captain Wirz was 
sick in August, because he heard so; Wirz 
would curse a man for nothing at all hardly, 
and would pull fellows along roughly. 

Martin S. Harris, of the fifth regiment New 
York cavalry, testified that he was a prisoner 
at Andersonville, from July 29th to Novem¬ 
ber 1st, 1864; he was a sergeant of a gang of 
ninety ; on the 16th of September, the prison¬ 
ers commenced removing the dead-line ; it 
continued down until the middle of October; 
the prisoners had unrestricted intercourse 
with everybody;' about this time Captain 
Wirz ordered a sutler to leave the stockade 
for extortion, telling the boys to help them¬ 
selves from the stock of goods, but reserving 
the potatoes and other vegetables for the sick ; 
Captain Wirz said to him and other sergeants 
that the camp had been reorganized, and that 
the provisions would be more abundant and 
regular; the Captain also increased the rations 
and supply of wood, and permitted the men 
in squads, under guard, to go out every day 
•nd cut and bring in wood; such prisoners as 
had no blankets and tents were permitted to 
gather pine-tops; he never heard of Wirz shoot¬ 
ing or maltreating prisoners ; he did not see 
him commit actual violence, but had heard him 
“ cuss” the men ; the main avenue was lined 
with stores and trading places, while there 
were many itinerant venders of soap, candles, 
knives and other things ; salt was sold by the 
bakers to the traders ; it was thrown over the 
wall at night in bags; about the middle of 
October he wrote a note to Captain Wirz, say¬ 
ing that owing to the way salt was disposed 
of, the prisoners could not obtain a sufficient 
supply, and requesting that some action be 
taken by him in the premises. Captain Wirz 
issued an order prohibiting the sale of salt in 
the stockade, and confiscating the supply in 
traders’ hands; after this there was a percep¬ 
tible taste of salt in the bread. 

Cross-examined by Colonel Chipman— 
There were plenty of wells in the stockade, 
but those who acquired them by purchase, or 
dug them, kept theih for their own use; they 
would sell a cup of water for a chew of to¬ 
bacco, and this article was sold, a piece two 
inches square and very thin, for twenty-five 
cents ; the water in the creek was never fit to 
drink ; not being a trader, he had no extended 
oeportunity for seeing all that was going on 


in the stockade; about twenty out of the divis¬ 
ion of ninety under charge of the witness died, 
ten of them in the stockade, principally with 
diarrhoea; six of the remainder were too sick 
to travel to Millen; he saw men die for w T ant 
of proper food, and not because of a lack of a 
sufficient quantity; they could not eat the 
corn beef because their mouths were too sore 
with scurvy; the witness was never in any 
battle. He was captured by Early’s ad¬ 
vanced guard; there was not lying by him at 
the time either a jug or bottle of whisky; he, 
however, could not tell how drunk he was at 
the time of capture; he was lying with his 
face down, asleep, when the rebels took him. 
The witness said that he had written several 
letters to the New York News , purporting to 
give a plain statement of facts, to see justice 
done to a fellow-man. He selected that paper 
because he was acquainted with the editor, 
who was a personal friend. 

Question—Do you not know that that paper 
was in sympathy with the rebellion during 
the war ? 

Answer—-T do not. 

Question—Did you not know it was called 
a Copperhead sheet, and justly so, and did 
you not know that it continually attacked tlm 
Government during the war ? 

Answer—I never knew its character until 
recently; I did not know when 1 wrote tho 
letter what kind of a paper it. was;/I was 
asked by one of the editors to give the public 
any information on the subject I could. 

Mt. Schade, one of the prisoner’s counsel, 
interposed, saying he found that the Daily 
News was a loyalpaper, supporting the Presi¬ 
dent’s policy. He, therefore, did not know 
why it should be called a disloyal sheet. 

Colonel Chipman replied he was very well 
aware w 7 hy Mr. Schade did not see it. 

Mr. Schade said no objection was taken 
when newspapers attacked the prisoner; but 
w r hen one of them defended him offence was 
taken. 

Colonel Chipman remarked that a witness’ 
competency w r as the basis of all testimony. 
If he be in sympathy with rebellion without 
being in the war, and put himself in connec¬ 
tion with those against the (jfovernment, and 
seek an interview w r ith editor^of rebel sheets, 
proffering his services, and writing letters in 
accordance with his sympathies, it was proper 
to show that he was not a competent wit¬ 
ness. This witness on the stand would be 
shown in sympathy with the rebellion. 

Mr. Baker said he had not thus endeavored 
to impeach the witnesses of the Government. 
When he did so, might he be pitched out of 
the window. 

Colonel Chipman remarked that when such • 
a cloud of witnesses had testified as to the 
horrors of Andersonville, and when he found 
this witness, their comrade in arms, had 
testified that Andersonville was a land flow¬ 
ing with milk and honey, he suspected such a 
witness, and would attack him under all cir¬ 
cumstances because he did not believe the 




THE TRIAL. 


presumption was in his favor. He owed this 
much to those suffering Union prisoners who 
periled their lives in defence of their country, 
and against whom there was not a shadow of 
discredibility. 

Mr. Baker replied, what the Judge-Advo- 
cate proposed to do was legitimate, but the 
manner in which it was conducted did more 
credit to his heart than to his head. As an 
adviser of the Court, the gentleman did not 
do justice to the prisoner. He was governed 
too much by his zeal. 

Colonel Chipman said as to the duties of a 
Judge-Advocate, while in theory, according 
to the writers on military law, he is both the 
counsel for the accused and for the Govern¬ 
ment, that theory is exploded when the ac¬ 
cused himself selects counsel. When , this 
defendant is attended by friends and counsel 
in the front and rear, it removes the obliga¬ 
tion of the Judge-Advocate to act as his 
counsel. 

The cross-examination was resumed. The 
witness said he saw Ben Wood, the proprietor 
of the Netvs, twice in his offiee; he went to 
him to make a correction in his fetters; he 
published in the Neivs two fetters about 
affairs at Andersonville ; he did. not know how 
lie came to be subpoenaed; the witness 
further said he wrote fetters for the Brooklyn 
Eagle, and, in reply to a question asked by 
Colonel Chipman, added, he did not-know that 
the Eagle was more disloyal to the Govern¬ 
ment than the News ; anticipating the trial, 
he had written a defence of Wirz. 

Q. Don’t you think it was remarkable that 
you selected the ,News and the Eaglet 

A. I had never heard the character of the 
News for loyalty questioned, and I considered 
the Eagle a first-rate Democratic paper. 

Miss Mary Rawson testified that she lived 
near Andersonville, and frequently carried 
food to one of the Union prisoners; Captain 
Wirz had never refused or denied her any 
privilege; he was always agreeable, and will¬ 
ing she should bring any thing there; she 
never heard of Captain Wirz treating any 
lady in an unkind way; the name of her 
prisoner, as she called him, was Peter Kean* 
of the sixteenth Iowa. 

Rev. E. R.^b uncan, minister of the gospel, 
attached to the Tennessee Methodist Confer¬ 
ence, testified tliat in August, 1&64, he 
preached to the Union prisoners in the 
stockade, having obtained a pass from Captain 
Wirz to go in at will; the witness also visited 
Andersonville in the following February ; he 
stayed there a week‘each time; his mission 
proper was to preach to the Florida artillery. 

Cross-examined by Colonel Chipman—When 
his State (Tennessee) went out of the Union, 
he was identified with the act; he went with 
his country ; he was a man of one work, 
preaching to souls everywhere, and never 
thought that religion should be mixed up 
with politics. 

Colonel Chipman asked a question affect¬ 
ing the witness’ loyalty. 


103 

The reverend gentleman asked whether that 
was proper ? 

Colonel Chipman said it was, and informed 
the witness he was at liberty to refuse to 
answer any question involving him in the 
crime of treason. 

The witness replied he was subject to the 
powers that.be, and that ought to be a suffi¬ 
cient answer. 

Colonel Chipman asked, “ Did you ever take 
an oath of allegiance to the Confederate 
Government? 

A. I did not; I never was connected with 
the army in any way. 

The Court adjourned. 

^ SATURDAY'S PROCEEDINGS, 

Washington, Oct. 7.— The newspapers have 
made a mistake in the name of the defendant’s 
witness who on Wednesday and Thursday 
testified to the thriving business affairs, &c., 
at Andersonville. The name is George W. 
Fechnor, but at the prison he assumed the 
name of Charles W. Ross. 

This morning Captain Selph was recalled, 
and testified that some of the boxes with 
Sanitary goods for soldiers were brokeu open 
on the ’way to their destination. The com¬ 
mand of the witness with the Rebel army at 
Vicksburg were vaccinated for small-pox, but 
those who had the small-pox recovered quick¬ 
er than.those who had been vaccinated ; vac¬ 
cine matter was at that time very scarce in 
the South. 

Mr. Baker asked that an adjournment take 
place till Thursday. He was satisfied that if 
the- time were granted he could so arrange 
matters that the busines would be facilitated. 

■Colonel Chipman suggested that the Court 
adjourn till Thursday, and that then, and 
thereafter, they -sit without regard to regular 
hours, and thus make up the time lost by 
an adjournment over. 

The Court acquiesced in the suggestion. 

Dr. Joseph Jones, Professor of Chemistry 
in the Medical College of Georgia, was placed 
on the stand, and produced a report which he 
made under the permission of the Rebel au¬ 
thorities, concerning the diseases, &c., at 
Andersonville. It appears that his object 
was to illustrate facts relative to gangrene, 
malaria fevers, and camp and other diseases. 

This report shows the frightful mortality, 
the number of deaths during one period being 
•as large in the stockade as in the hospital. 
He describes the men as miserable, hopeless 
and abject in the extreme, very many of them 
mere skeletons, incrusted with dirt, and cov¬ 
ered with vermin. Some • of them cursed 
their own Government for refusing to consent 
to an exchange of prisoners. It was, he said, 
impossible to depict the scene. 

Captain Gilmore, on duty at Norfolk, testi¬ 
fied as to the seizure of watches, silver spoons, 
forks, watch-chains, lockets, photographs, &c., 
taken from a man named Garrison, on the 
Eastern Shore of Virginia, who claimed to be 
counsel for R, B. Winder. A watch chain, 




104 


THE TRIAL. 


with medal attached, was exhibited to Ihe 
witness ,to connect these articles with the 
dundering at Andersonville. It belonged to 
>arius Morris, of the New York volunteers. 

The Court then adjourned until Thursday 
morning, October 12th. 

THURSDAY'S PROCEEDINGS. 

W ashington, Oct: 12.—The Wirz Military 
Commission reassembled to-day. 

Mr. Schade, counsel for the prisoner, read 
from the letter-book of Captain Wirz, the fol¬ 
lowing : 

Hdqrs. Commanjder of Prisoners, 1 
Camp Sumter, June 6, 1864. j 

Captain : I most respectfully call the at¬ 
tention of the colonel commanding the post, 
through you, to the following facts : 

The bread w r hicli is issued to prisoners, is 
of such an inferior quality, consisting of one 
eighth husk, that it is almost unfit for use, 
and it is increasing the dysentery and other 
bowel complaint. 

I would wish that the commissary of the 
post be notified to have the meal bolted, or 
some other contrivance arranged to sift the 
meal before issuing it. If the meal, such as 
is now used, was sifted, the bread rations 
would fall short fully one quarter of a pound. 

There is a great deficiency of buckets. 
Rations of rice, beans, vinegar, and molasses, 
eannot.be issued to prisoners for the want of 
buckets, at least eight thousand men being in 
the stockade without any thing 1 of the sort. If 
my information is correct, any number of 
buckets can be got from Columbus, Ga., if the 
quartermaster of the post w r ould make the 
requisition for the same. 

Roping that you will give this your atten¬ 
tion as soon as possible. I remain, Captain, 
most respectfully your obedient servant, 

H. Wirz, 

Captain Commanding Prison. 
Cnpt. A. D. Chapman, A. Adjutant of the Post. 

J udge-Advocate Chipman objected to this 
letter being received as evidence, on the ground 
that the prisoner could not testify in his own 
behalf. The Government, however, would 
allow the natural inference from his acts, 
whether favorable or otherwise. The Judge 
also referred to the agreement heretofore made 
between himself and counsel, that the letter- 
book of Captain Wirz was to be put in evi¬ 
dence, subject to any proper objection. 

Mr. Schade also read the following from the 
earae letter-book. 

Hdqrs. Commander of Prisons, ) 
Camp Sumter, Feb. 26, 1865. j 

Sir : I have the ‘honor to call your attention 
to the following facts r There is at this post a 
large number of paroled prisoners of war, who 
are doing work for the Government, which if 
not done by them, would have to be done by 
impressment or hire, and thus be a heavy ex¬ 
pense to the Government. These men‘ are 
almost, without exception, barefooted, having 
been so long at work that what shoes they 
have, are entirely worn out. 


I wish to know if I cannot be authorized t 
make a requisition on the quartermaster’ 
department to supply their wants in this lira 
or else buy the leather through the quartei 
master, and have the shoes made, as there ar 
plenty of shoemakers among the prisoners. 
Recommending the statement to you 
favorable consideration, I am sir, very respecl 
fully, your obedient servant, H. Wirz, 

Captain Commanding Prisot 
To G. W. McPhail, A. D. C. and A. A. G. 

Judge-Advocate Chipman made the sam 
objection to this letter as he did to the firs 
one, but the Court refused to sustain the ob 
jection. 

Mr. Baker desired that the prosecutioi 
would conclude the examination of their re 
maining‘witnesses, in order that the defenci 
might have the remaining time without in 
terruption. 

The Court said that Mr. Baker had hereto 
fore agreed that the prosecution should intro 
duce witnesses after the defence commenced 
and now he wanted to cut off the Judge-Ad 
vocate from the privilege granted. Nothing 
was more frequent than to examine witness^ 
in the way of accommodation to both sides. 

The Judge-Advocate said that he had sub 
poenaed other witnesses who would be here it 
a day or two. They were not so important tc 
the defendant as to the general charge. 

Colonel F. G. Ruffin testified that he reside* 
near Richmond, and during the war was £ 
lieutenant-colonel in the subsistence depart 
ment of the Confederate States army; there 
was a deficiency of commissary supplies, anc 
from the beginning of the war, more or lesi 
scarcity ; he would not say that any one wai 
on the point of starvation, but that there wai 
much privation; thirty thousand barrels of fioni 
had accumulated at Richmond in the spring of 
1864, but the whole of that reserve was con¬ 
sumed by the Union prisoners ; therefore, the 
army of General Lee had to subsist on corn- 
bread, the meal having to be brought mainly 
from Georgia; at Coal Harbor, vegetables 
were so scarce that General Lee made an ur¬ 
gent application for them to the War Depart¬ 
ment ; the men, for want of vegetables, were 
suffering from scurvy, diarrlfta, &c.; thefr 
recovery was necessary in oraer that they 
might return to the field; the commissary 
department then imported onions from the 
island of Bermuda through the blockade. 

The witness also testified that supplies wero 
short throughout the entire South. 

Cross-examined by Col. Chipman—Witness 
knew nothing about the Andersonville prison; 
but the prisoners were removed from Rich¬ 
mond thither, because supplies were princi¬ 
pally derived from Georgia; he did not know 
that any of the Confederate soldiers starved 
because of an insufficiency of food, but he had 
heard that some of them lost their lives be¬ 
cause of its unwliolesomeness. 

R. H. Kellogg, who had testified for the 
prosecution, was called for the defence. 

Q. During the tir *e that you were at Ander- 





THE TRIAL. 


*( 


onville, did you ever hear or know of Capt. 
SVirz kicking-, striking, or shooting a man so 
hat he died ? A. 1 did not. 

, Cross-examined—Wirz had a character for 
truclty and brutality, and was profane and 
Insulting to the prisoners; they were badly 
reated, and naturally supposed that he was 
responsible for the abuses; Sherman’s raiders 
vho had been brought in were robbed of 
learly every thing they had; some had on 
^erely shirts and pants ; witness did not say 
hat Captain Wirz did not kill or shoot any 
>ne, but that he did not see him do it. 

At the suggestion'of Judge-Advocate Chip- 
nan, the cross-examination of the witness was 
nspemled, in order that tHb book written by 
Vlr. Kellogg Relative to the sufferings of and 
cruelties to the Union prisoners at Anderson- 
rille could be sent 1 for. 

Major S. B. French, an officer in the Con- 
'ederate commissary department, testified to 
he deficiency of supplies in the winter of 
1863, and spring of 1804. The rations in the 
irrny were reduced,, and vegetables imported 
rom Bermuda through the blockade. For 
ive months preceding the evacuation of Rich- 
nond there was never ten da)^’ supplies on 
land for the army of Gen. Lee. Gen. Lee 
complained of the reduction of the ration. 

Cross-examined—Witness said that it was 
>wing to the want of transportation facilities 
hat corn was scarce in Richmond; they did 
lot import wheat flour; he knew nothing 
vbout Andersonville; the meal furnished to 
the army of Gen. Lee was not bolted. 

By the Court—Gen. Lee had bread 1 every 
lay, but several times the telegraph to Rich¬ 
mond stated that lie was without meat; in 
inch instances the people of Richmond would 
3 ollect a supply; Gen. Lee informed him 
(Witness) that he had frequently been pre¬ 
vented from moving because of not having 
inHsistenoe for his army. 

Dr. Ray was recalled for the defence. Cap¬ 
tain Wirz, he said, was sick two thirds, if not 
the whole of September; he had never dressed 
in the Andersonville hospital the wounds of 
ft man who had been wounded with a pistol or 
revolver; witnoft| said he told Captain Wirz 
that he' ought W have his right arm treated, 
but the captain thought it would get well by 
Jiis own treatment, he being himself a doctor. 

Capt. Wirz, at the request of Mr. Baker, 
here took the stand, and exposed his right 
arm, which is much, swollen and inflamed. 

Dr. Ray, after looking at the arm, said that 
it was as bad as the first day he saw it; he 
looked on it as a gangrenous ulcer; two of the 
fingers were disabled "then, as now ; he thought 
the prisoner could not strike anybody with 
that arm, or with any thing in it; he might 
feebly defend himself, but could not grapple 
any one with that arm. 

Cross-examined—Witness never saw the 
prisoner in any beligerent position; he judged 
of the condition of Capt-. Wirz’s arm from the 
appearance of it; he examined the arm for the 
first time in September, 1864, but had no idea 
6 


105 

what caused the wound; Capt. Wirz, during 
that month, came to the prison whenever he 
could—probably once or twice a week. 

Mr. Kellogg here returned with a copy of 
his book, and resumed hig place on the stand. 

Q. By Colonel Chipman—Did I understand 
you to mean, by saying you nevei*K heard 
of certain things having been done by Cap¬ 
tain Wirz, that f such things did not occur? 
A. Not by any means; we understood that 
Captain Wirz was a brutal, cruel and over¬ 
bearing man. 

The witness further said, that after the six 
“Raiders” were hanged, they had a season of 
comparative peace; but the prisoners soon 
learned to look on the “Regulators” aa 
equally bad. It w&s “ diamond cut diamond” 
—they were the same class of men. The 
“ Regulators ” did good at first by hanging 
the" Raiders.” 

Colonel Chipman intended to, but did not, 
examine the witness as to any part of the 
book. 

J. W. Armstrong, Jr., of Macon, Georgia, 
a captain in the commissary’s office of the 
Confederate service, testified that when he 
first went to Andersonville the rations issued 
to the Confederate soldiers and the Union 
prisoners were the same; several boards of 
survey condemned the food there; Captain 
Wirz had nothing to do with the commissary 
supplies, excepting to receive them; Wirz 
made a remonstrance against the quality of 
the food; Wirz was sick in July; how long, 
he could not say, but he was out of his head; 
witness knew nothing about Wirz being sick 
in August, as he left the post the first of that 
month ; lie never heard, of Captain Wirz 
beating or shooting a prisoner, so that he 
died; nor did he ever hear of a Confederate 
soldier obtaining a furlough for shooting a 
Union prisoner. 

Cross-examined—He did not know whether 
the same rations he delivered at the post were 
supplied to the prisoners; he had not so much 
difficulty in procuring subsistence as transpor¬ 
tation; he would not be familiar with the mat¬ 
ter* of issuing furloughs if it had been done. 

Dr. Bates,"who testified for the prosecution, 
was examined for the defence; the witness said 
that he might say that they had no medicines, 
at the prison ; the surgeons were not permit¬ 
ted to prescribe, excepting by numbers, the 
remedies having been previously prepared 
from roots and berries, and designated for 
various diseases; vaccine virus was a poison, 
even in the normal system, and its insertion 
produced deleterious effects; such was the 
depraved condition of the system, owing to 
the filth, insufficient and unwholesome food, 
and the absence of shelter, that the slightest 
abrasion of the skin produced gangrene; as 
a case in point, he said that a prisoner acci¬ 
dentally struck his comrade with his elbow, 
while they were lying together;: by this the 
skin was abraded near the teeth; in three 
hours gangrene set in, and in three da vs the 
1 man died. 



THE TRIAL. 


106 

The witness characterized the country 
around Andersonville as a poverty-stricken 
section, ten acres being required to produce 
a bale of cotton, and only four or five bushels ; 
of corn raised tb an acre. 

Cross-examined—Comparing the prisons at 
Macnzf and Andersonville, he gate the prefer¬ 
ence to the latter, where he himself was con¬ 
fined, having been arrested in August, 1864; 
he did not know for what he was arrested, and 
he Was going, if he could , to find out—but he 
was discharged, under a writ of habeas cor¬ 
pus, issued at Petersburg; while he was at 
Andersonville, he Said, if they would give 
him proper diet, room and cleanliness, he 
would make no further requisitions for med¬ 
icines; the vaccination took place prior to his 
being on duty at Andersonville; looking at 
the peculiar susceptibility of the prisoners jto 
disease, it became a serious matter with ‘him 
whether he would have vaccinated them; if 
they took the small-pox it was certain death ; 
but if he thought he could have saved even 
one in fifty he should have resorted to vacci¬ 
nation.; in other words, only to save life. 

FRIDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Friday, Oct. 13— The Wirz Military Com¬ 
mission reassembled this morning. 

Mr. Schade read two letters from the letter- 
book of Captain Wirz. 

One of these letters, dated December, 1864, 
is addressed to Assistant Quartermaster 
Neeley, and says that he (Wirz) had received 
eighteen packages of clothing for the Federal 
prisoners, including blankets, shoes, pants, 
Sacks, shirts, and that he would proceed to 
distribute them without delay. 

The other letter, dated January 20, 1865, 
was addressed to Assistant Adjutant Thomas, 
asking that the guard to escort men gathering 
wood be increased from twenty-five to sixty 
men. 

Benjamin Lilley, of Pennsylvania, testified 
that he was admitted clerk in Captain Wirz’s 
office, and his business was when prisoners 
arrived to make out the descriptive roll; he 
was also a wardmaster, having charge of t>ne 
hundred and fifty men and twenty nurses; 
there was much trading in beans, pork, bacon, 
flour, meal, peanuts, sweet potatoes, segars, 
tobacco, etc.; clothes were taken from the' 
dead by our own men and sold to the rebels: 
witness never heard of the stocks being inside 
the stockade; Confederates as well as Yankees 
were forbidden to wash in the stream; Cap¬ 
tain Wirz made an ineffectual effort to impress 
five hundred slaves for the purpose of enlarg¬ 
ing the stockade, and our own men refused to 
work for fear of compromising themselves. 

Among other things witness said that Cap¬ 
tain Wirz condemned rice and corn bread, re¬ 
marking that he would not feed his negroes 
on them, and that the men who sent the corn 
meal to Andersonville should be court-mar¬ 
tialed, as they were robbing their own govern¬ 
ment ; Captain Wirz was sick during August 

d off and on in July. 


Witness nefer heard-of Captain Wirz sh 
ing or beating prisoners so that they died ; 
did he ever hear of furloughs being give] 
Confederate soldiers for shooting prisoner, 

Cross-examined—Witness made applical 
to Captain Wirz to be detailed as a cl 
having been sick with diarrhoea; Wirz wi 
very excitable, cross old fellow, and therei 
he did not have much to do with him ; in A 
he asked Dr. White to vaccinate him for 
small-pox, but the doctor intimated that 
matter was impure, and said he expected 
procure good matter from the arm of a cl 
in the country; the small-pox was prevail 
in that same month. 

Witness said that the capital for trad 
purposes was limited to the “ Raiders;” th 
were five hundred of them, who would kn< 
down the prisoners and rob them of th 
money f after Wirz had packed the men th 
in the stockade, some of them came out a 
helped to enlarge it; there was no difficulty 
finding tools to build the fortifications, 1 
there was a scarcity at them to improve i 
stockade; Wirz gave orders against the C 
federate soldiers trading with our men 
clothing, but the witness did not know tl 
persons were threatened for doing so as v 
intimated; Duncan and others committed i 
robbery of commissary goods; it was agai: 
the orders of Captain Wirz to trade, and the 
fore it was carried on secretly. 

Direct examination—The treatment 
prisoners was better at Andersonville than 
Belle Isle, as at the latter place men atari 
to death. 

By the Court—Witness made money 
trading in greenbacks and Confederate mom 
he started in business by selling his overc 
for twenty-five dollars : he bought greenba< 
for three or five dollars inside, and sold th 
outside at from eight to ten dollars; he a 
kept a sutler’s store, and thus made some 
his money. 

Captain Wirz djd not give him any extra 
dinary privileges more than he did to eight 
ten other clerks ; he was allowed to go a n 
in the country from the prison; trading a 
contrary to orders to mal^ money, and 
made it mostly from our owBnen.; all suffe 
in the stockade for want of food, and he 1 
seen men die in consequence. 

Witness came away from Andersonv: 
with one hundred and forty dollars in gre 
backs and a forty-five dollar watch. 

Witness said he had seen Duncan specul 
ing in stolen whisky and other things; Dum 
knocked down and struck a couple of pris 
ers, and would seize men in the middle of i 
night and place them in the stocks. 

Duncan and his right-hand man, Rich 
reported the tunnels, and they would ad\ 
Wirz what should be done to men for si 
and such things; on two different occasi< 
saw Dr. Mudd hold his thumb on an arte 
and while the amputating operator was ty 
the artery, the doctor would remove his thu 
and let the blood spurt in the operator’s h 



( 


md the doctor would laugh, as if it was some 
hing funny ; Dr. Carr, a rebel steward, would 
ome into the hospital disguised as one of our 
>wn men, sometimes in a good and another 
imes in a bad huiapur ; witness saw him twice 
trike men over the face with his heavy pistpl 
or talking with the guard; that doctor, robbed 
k sick man of his buttons; vegetables were 
ilso stolen from the sick. 

Cross-examined by Mr. Baker—Witness 
aw Duncan take the whisky; he had heard 
human advise Wirz to punish with bucking 
md the ball and qhain the men who had 
>poken favorably of General Fremont and 
M Abe. 

F. W. Hile was called for the prosecution 
,o impeach the Testimony of George W. Fech- 

lor. 

Colonel Chipmau asked the witness whether 
re knew of Fechnor refusing to give dying 
nen food ? 

Mr. Baker objected. 

Colonel Chipman said that Fechnor, alias 
•Baron Munchausen,” swore that he never 
saw any of the prisoners die, and that he never 
’efused to give them food. 

(Colonel Chipman said he wanted to show 
hat men died before the face of Fechnor, who 
•efused to, give them any thing to eat, and 
ilso that Fechnor was a gambler and a rough 
generally. 

Mr. Baker replied that the fact that Fech- 
lor did not assist the prisonei'3 and was a 
gambler did not affect his credibility. , 
Colonel Chipman asked numerous questions 
ff the witness, who contradicted Fechnor’s 
:estimony in the following particulars : 

That Fechnor, contrary to his own state- 
nents, was a gambler, and every one called 
lim a mean man, and that he fleeced or 
cheated the prisoners out of their money; as 
m instance, a starving man craving for some¬ 
thing to eat, was compelled to give a fifty 
ipliar watch to Fechnor for two dollars, for 
which sum Fechnor sold him six small cakes 
for twenty-five cents a piece and an ounce of 
butter; Fechnor had a board with numbers 
ap to nine upon it, where meji gambled,,and 
be was also in partnership with a sutler; 
Fechnor was thj chief of the “Regulators,” 
who, after the six “Raiders were hanged, 
robbed and stole more than the “Raiders” 
themselves ; so far from Fechnor giving food 
to hungry men, the witness said that a man 
was lying near Fechnor’s shanty, in a starve* 
ing condition, and on having been appealed to 
that the man might be furnished with food, 
Fechnor remarked, “Let him die, I don’t 
care.” The man died. 

Cross-examined—Witness lived in Phila¬ 
delphia, and was at Andersonville from June 
to September, 1864; he was often in Fecli- 
aor’s shop or shanty, which contained onions, 
tobacco, eggs, cheese, butter, and many other 
things; Fechnor was known by that name, 
md not as Ross; the sign on the shanty was 
Fechnor and Company. 

The Court then adjourned. 


107 

SATURDAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 

Washington, Oct. 14.-— Edward Wellington 
Boate testified that he "belonged to the forty 
second New York volunteers, and was pris- 
onor.'both at Belle Isle and Andersonville; 
the latter was better than the former; the 
prisoners carried vgtiv him from Belle Jsle 
were sick, and some of them died on the way; 
the rations at Andersonville became smaller 
as the number of prisoners increased; the 
bread was bad, burned on the outside, ahd 
raw within.; the prisoners sometimes eat it 
and sometimes threw it away; l^ie Swamp 
was improved after he arrived there by ditch¬ 
ing it; there was comfort and convenience 
for the first two or three months, the men 
using pine bpughs and erecting tents for 
themselves; in March there was a general 
count of prisoners; after the hundreds on the' 
north side had been coupted they were dis¬ 
missed to their quarters; but instead o'f pro¬ 
ceeding thither, they went to the south side, 
the consequence was that the rations were 
stopped until the count could be fixed correct¬ 
ly, otherwise from seventeen hundred tQ two 
thousand more rations would, have been re¬ 
quired; Captain Wirz Said to those who 
spoke to him On the subject:—-“You knoy 
why I stopped the rations', and I was obliged 
to do. itsome of the men had a small sup¬ 
ply of rations from the 4ay ; before; the wit¬ 
ness never heard of Captain Wirz assaulting 
the prisoners ; Captain Wirz appealed to the 
prisoners to help to 1 enlarge the stockade, say¬ 
ing. he .wanted to give .them .^ten instead of 
four feet each. 

The witness, said he was one of a delegation 
of six prisoners appointed to cqme to Wash¬ 
ington and present a petition to the United 
States authorities for an exchange of prison¬ 
ers, General Winder and Captain Wirz as¬ 
senting to the errand. 

Colonel Chipman objected, saying there 
was no evidence to show- that the original pe¬ 
tition ever reached the United States author¬ 
ities or of having been destroyed, and besides 
there was no evidence to show the paper now 
offered was an exact copy., 

Mr. Baker said that so far from conspiring, 
Captain Wirz was taking active measures, and 
actually sending Union prisoners to the Uni¬ 
ted States Government, to effect an exchange. 

The room was cleared for deiioeration; and 
after the doors were re-opened the opinion of 
theCourt was announced as followsThere 
is not sufficient proof to show that the paper 
sought to be introduced was ever put into the 
hands of the Government or reached •'them.— 
In the next place, if there is sufficient evi? 
dence to leave, the presumption that it did 
reach the Government properly or in any 
manner, there is not sufficient proof of the 
loss of the original pa^er to justify the in¬ 
troduction of this supposed copy, In order 
that the counsel may not lose any benefit, 
theCourt had directed tlie Judge-Advocate 
to apply to the proper officers of the Govern- 





THE TRIAL.. 


m 

ment to'ascertain whether such a paper had 
ever come into their hands, in order that at 
any time during the trial the paper may be 
introduced.” 

Mr. Baker remarked that he would go on 
tb show that the Government had notice of 
such a*petition, and .that the delegation were 
here for three days knocking at the doors of 
the . President,. and could not obtain admis¬ 
sion. 

The witness testified that on arriving at 
New York with Tracy, one of the delegates, 
they applied to Major-General Dix for trans¬ 
portation to Washington but were refused. 

Mr^Baker said they offered to show by the 
witness,that the latter, received,a letter front 
Tracy, dated Washington, in substance that a 
delegation were here waiting on the authori¬ 
ties, and making known their business, but 
' were refused permission to confer with them 
upon the subject. He meant by the authori¬ 
ties the President or Secretary of War, or both. 

Colonel Chipman replied that the witness 
did not come to Washington but the proposi¬ 
tion was tc be proved in an unheard of way. 
He could scarcely believe a man of the fame 
and heart and unimpeachable character of 
President Lincoln refused admission to any¬ 
body on a subjeef of that kind, and the Court 
must not allow a slander of that nature to be 
repeated against so jjreat and good a man as 
the late President Lincoln. While he did not 
wish to exclude any fact, he hoped the Court 
would require the counsel to prove it in the 
legal way. . 

Mr. Baker replied that the remarks-of the 
gentleman did not ^fer, to his offer. The 
stump speech about President Lincoln was 
out of the line of this proposition. The 
Judge-Advocate had no more reverence for 
that great man than he had. He, therefore, 
would be the last man to reflect upon Presi¬ 
dent Lincoln or any one else; but his duty 
was do show that-his client was not guilty of 
the enormities charged against him; and if 
he showed that Captain Wirz and others 
were trying to get prisoners released in order 
that they might return to their friends, then 
he did away with the charge of intention of 
wrong or cruelty against them. He would 
seek to follow this up to show that a proposi¬ 
tion was made to send fifteen thousand pris¬ 
oners from Andersonville without asking an 
equivalent, so great was the anxiety to get 
rid of these prisoners. This was i-efused. 
His intention by this was to do away with the 
charge of conspiracy, when, in fact, an effort 
was made to have the prisoners released. 

Polpnel Chipman said Mr. Baker ought to 
have asked for a subpoena for Mr Tracy. 

The Court asked whether his whereabouts 
were known ? 

Colonel Oliipmgn replied that he Could be 
sent for in twenty-four hours. 

Mr. Bakdr then asked that he be produced, 
and he asked for Colonel Ould.. 

Coionel Chipman remarked that the coun¬ 
sel did not want Colonel Ould. 


Mr. Baker replied that he had said he w 
not delay the trial, but when .he Was tui 
upon he asked for additional testimony 
clear his client. 

Colonel Chipman said the only pract 
point was that Winder and Wirz made eft 
leading to the coming of a mission to W; 
ington. What the mission did had not! 
to do with this r qase, or whether the Gov* 
ment was right or wrong. If this coi 
were pursued, another month would be ( 
sumed to show whether the Government 
to blame or the man on trial. If Tracy 
been asked for he would have been subpoem 
but now, toward the close of the trial, t 
Were asked in a boisterous manner to 
points which seem to have been specii 
reserved. 

Major-GeneraT Thomas remarked that 
counsel knew our Government would not 
change prisoners while the Rebel Govt 
ment refused to recognize colored prisoner. 1 
soldiers, and murdered them. 

Mr. Baker said he wanted to show t 
Winder and Wirz were not guilty of consp 
cy. 

The Court sustained Colonel Chipma 
objection. 

Mr.'Baker offered in evidence a copy of 
proceedings and sentence of the court-ir 
tial whicli tried the raiders, and which w 
approved by General Winder. It was nol 
his power to produce the original, which \ 
either lost or destroyed. This record wo 
remove much of the blame which had b< 
cast on these officers, and was altogetl 
favorable to the defence. . 

Colonel Chipman objected, saying the ti 
was irregularly conducted, in the midst o 
mob, and approved by Gen Winder in dir 
violation of tne laws of war. The proposit: 
v r as to introduce an assumed copy of 1 
record, either for Winder’s defence or 
allow vague testimony to be used to exculp; 
this prisoner. 

The objection of Colonel Chipman was s 
tained by the Court. 

The witness was cross-examined, when 
Baker said that in previous remarks he alluc 
to Major Bogle amt not Majcj Bowles. 

Colonel Chipman said the Governmt 
here rested its case in the prosecution of t 
prisoner. He wished to make a statement 
behalf of himself and associate, namely: 
They proposed to let the counsel for the pi 
oner make out an affidavit as to what th 
would have proved by those whom they wish 
to be subpoenaed. The Court, of course, -woi 
jtidge of its propriety or relevancy. [No 
—This was understood to be Generals L< 
Johnston, Cobb and others.] 

The Court said it had never refused or < 
cided in any manner that those witness 
should not be brought here. 

Colonel Chipman remarked that Mr. Bali 
had said, on the whole, he would not ask tt 
those parties be subpoenaed. 

Mr. Baker said, whatever had passed let 





THE TRIAL, 


109 


go. So far as there had been any thing of a 
personal nature, he would not here or outside 
ever refer to it. The Judge:Advocate had 
personally treated hini with kindness, although 
he had treated the case of the defendant 
roughly. 

The Court said both sides now rested. The 
rule permitted counsel for the defence to 
gum up in behalf of the prisoner, .to be replied 
to by the Judge-Advocate, both to be in 
writing. The only thing which remained to 

I be done was to fix the time for the hearing of 
the argument. 

Mr. Baker said he must ask for two weeks 
time to prepare his argument. Ho had not 
I yet a single thing laid out for it. 
i Colonel Chipman, in reply to a question by 
the Court, said he would want only twenty- 
i four hours after the reading of the counsel’s 
i argument. 

( The Court, after being cleared for delibera¬ 
tion, informed Mr. Baker they had decided to 
give him until next Tuesday week. 

Mr. Baker said it was impossibfe for him to 
l prepare, it in so short a time. 

The Court said they could not extend the 
itime. 

Mr. Baker replied, then he must submit., 
He asked the Court to review its decision, 
when the room was again cleared, and after 
deliberation, the Court informed Mr. Baker 
that they would give him twelve days, or until 
the 26th inst. 

Mr. Baker was not'Satisfied; he wanted 
two weeks, he pduld not accept that time. 

Colonel Chipman, on being asked what time 
le wanted, said until next Wednesday. Ifr 
the counsel would not argue at all, he! would 
andeavor to cover alLthe points in the ease. 
The Court then adjourned till the 18th. 

WEDNESDAY'S PROCEEDINGS. 

< Washington, Oct. 18th.—The trial of the 
monster w r as resumed on this day. Judge- 
AMvocate Holt was present. " 

. THE MONSTER PLEADS IN HIS 
OWN BEHALF. 

The following| is the. plea made by the 
prisoner. * 

The accused says he appears to put on rec¬ 
ord his answer to the charges on which, he is 
irraigned, and to protect and vindicate his 
innocence. He was there' to answer for all 
bis official and personal acts at Andqrsonyille, 
md, if he could, convince the Court that they 
bad been void of offence before God and man. 
He trusted that he would not be held respon¬ 
sible. for the official or personal misdeeds of 
others. He would be judged by his own acts ; 
and if they had been such as to warrant his 
conviction on any of the charges, let him be 
visited with punishment commensurate with 
Jie,offence.. He did not ask for mercy, but. he 
jemanded justice. In analyzing the evidence 
be would endeavor to be simple and concise, 
and above all things frank and truthful. I 


There are thrpe distinct parts in which the 
prosecution and defence are necessarily com¬ 
prised. These are : First. .Had lie, as charged, 
maliciously, wilfully, and traitorously com¬ 
bined, confederated and conspired with John 
H. Winder and others to injureAhe health and 
destroy the lives of soldiers in the «tmlitary 
service of the Unito^States ? Second. And 
was he the person who was officially responsi¬ 
ble for the privations and sufferings of the 
Federal prisoners at Andersonville? And, 
third. Had he committed the cripieof mur¬ 
der, or perpetrated all or any of the atrocities 
laid to his charge ? 

As to the first, he was not conscious of a 
particle of testimony going to substantiate the 
charge of conspiracy. Of the one hundred 
and sixty -witnesses who have testified, no one 
ever heard him utter a syllable, or do an act 
indicative of his knowledge of the existence of 
some hellish plot; nor was there the least 
; scrap of paper found in his office, or a word in 
the archives of the Confederacy, to show that 
such a conspiracy existed. Even if all the 
| specifications which are grouped under the 
charge of conspiracy were literally true, there 
is not a shadow of evidence that the suffering 
was the result of a conspiracy. Captain Wirz 
argues that the Government itself did not be¬ 
lieve- in the existence of the conspiracy, from 
the fact that the names of Robert E. Lee, 
James A. Seddon, Luciu||Northrop and Dr*. 
Moore, who were indicted with the accused 
when lie w^s first arraigned, had been stricken 
, out. If the charge was true now, it was true 
then ; and if there was guilt anywhere, it cer¬ 
tainly lay more deep and damning on the souls 
of those who held high positions than on him 
who was a mere subaltern officer. He believed 
that what the J udge-Adyocate principally re-„ 
lied upon as proof of the conspiracy, was the 
expression attributed to him (Wirz) that “he 
was of more service to the Confederate Gov¬ 
ernment than any regiment in the front,” con¬ 
nected with the equally wicked and significant 
expressions attributed to General Winder, Gen¬ 
eral Cobb, and Captain W. S. Winder. As to 
the remark attributed to himself, he would re¬ 
fer tp that in another part of the defence. 
General Winder has gone to the great judg¬ 
ment seat. Howell Cobb was not allowed to 
come here and have an opportunity of contra¬ 
dicting the testimony referring to him,. The 
Judge-Advocate thus virtually admitted what 
it was expected to prove by him. As to W. 
S. Winder, he was under the jurisdiction of 
the United States Government. Surely he 
could not be held to answer for their rash and 
imprudent expression. Furthermore, if he, as 
a subaltern officer, simply obeyed the legal 
orders of his superiors in the discharge of his 
official duties, he could not be held responsi¬ 
ble fo.r the motive that dictated such orders. 
And if he overstepped them, and violated the 
laws of war, and outraged humanity, he should 
be tried and punished according to the measure 
of his offence. 

He further argued that, from his position at 





Til! TRIAL. 


If 




li& ■ 

AndersonviHe; he should not be held responsi¬ 
ble f*or the crowded condition of the stockade; 
the unwholesome food, &c.-, and adduced the 
following re^soiis, among o|hers. viz: That he 
was not responsible for the selection of the 
location, a^4t*ga;as ‘located by W. S. Winder 
in 'igfiSjVhile' Wirz wasvfetin Europe: that 
he did not assume command until March, 1864 * 
that’Colonel Parsons, one of the principal wit¬ 
nesses' for the prosecution, testified that the 
stockade was sufficiently large and properly 
located for the accommodation of ten thousand 
prisoners ; that Colonel Parsons’- testimony 
fully exonerated him (Wirz) from complicity 
in the selection of the location, overcrowding 
the stockade, or failure to provide proper 
shelter for the prisoners; that Dr. Bates ex¬ 
onerated him from.all blame on account of the 
condition of things in the hospital, and that 
his testimony was corroborated by Dr. Roy, 
and that Colonel D. T. Chandler, in his report 
to Richmond, never Once attached blame tp 
Wirz for the condition of affairs at Anderson- 
ville. 

As to the third charge, that of murder, he 
hoped to be able to show the Court that he 
was not guilty, and that he was not the mon¬ 
ster he had been depicted; but that on the 
contrary, he did what little lay in his power 
to diminish or alleviate the miseries of the 
prisoners. The specifications accused him of 
no less than thirtdPn distinct crimes of the 
grade of murder; yet in no instance were the 
name, date, regiment or circumstanced stated 
in the specifications, andfin the whole mass of 
the testimony, there, were but two cases of this 
character that could be fixed with any definite¬ 
ness ; and ih these two cases he was prepared 
to make his defence. The two referred to 
were the actual, real case of “Chickdmauga,” 
and the mythical case desdribed by the name 
of “ William Stewart,” who, it is alleged, was 
shot at the gate dear the guard-house. 

With regard 1 td Chickainauga, he would 
make the folldwing correct statement: On the 
evening referred to,,an officer went to his 
(Wirz’s) headquarters, and said there was a 
man ki the dead-line jawing the guard and 
creating a great deal of excitement. He rode 
to the stockade, dismounted, and went inside 
and asked Chickamauga in a rough way, 
“ What in the hell he was doing there?” 
Chickamauga replied that “ he wanted to bq 
killed.” He (Wirz) replied that “ If that was 
all he wanted, he would soon have it.” He 
then drew his revolver to menace Chicka- 
mauga, and the latter became frightened and 
went outside the dead-line. Wirz then ordered' 
the guard to fire upon the cripple if he again 
approached the dead-line He never supposed 
that Chickamauga’s friends would allow him 
again to go near the forbidden line. AVirz, 
then went out of the stockade, and was on his' 
way t,o his quarters when he heard the report 
of a musket, and going back and mounting the 
sentry-box, he found that Chickamauga had 
been shot. He was shot for a violation of a 
rule of prison discipline; a rule absolutely 



rules were printed and posted in conspicm 
places. 

With regard to the other alleged case 
shooting, it differed from that of ' Chic 
mauga in that the alleged victim, “ Willi 
Stewart,” had the good fortune never to hi 
been at the Andersonville stockade. r I 
man could not be found on the books of 1 
prison, the hospital record, or the death re£ 
ter. Captain Wirz argues that as this te: 
mony came from a man named Gray, who! 
prevaricated overmuch, his statement was l 
entitled to the least credence. 

He argues in a similar manner as to 1 
evidence of AlCOke, who testified to havi 
been robbed, and to Wirz ordering men to 
bayoneted on the occasion of their remo 
for exchange'. Captain Wirz adduces i 
testimony of Colonel Fanning to show that 
had nothing to do with the employment 
the dogs. • 

The allegation that furloughs were gram 
to soldiers for Shooting prisoners is p 
nounced an absurd camp rumor. He den 
that the prisoners w’ere ever deprived 
rations as a punishment. 

On only one occasion was the whole cai 
deprived of rations, and that was on the * 
of July, when there was a difficulty with 1 
rafflers, and the quartermaster ctinld not < 
tribute thfc ratiohs. He denies the' exert 
of personal violence toward the prisonf 
His physical condition was suth that he co 1 
not have knocked a man down, and he quo 
from the testimony of Father Whalen, 3 
Roy, and others who ha^opportuiiities of 
servation, to show that such a thing ne 
. occurred as his beating or shooting a prison 

He also quotas from Colonel Cfiiandler’s 
port to sliow that when the prisoners w 
inquired of as to their treatment, they ne^ 
once mentioned his, (Wirz?s) name. He 
knowleges that two of the prisoners w< 
whipped, viz: Bardo for disguising hims 
as a negro, (but not by Wirz’q order, as 
pears by Bardots own acknowledgment;) a 
the negro Hawkins, for^offerfcg a gross m 
to a, white lady. He denies having used , 
expression that he was doingmore for the C 
federacy than any regiment at the front. r l 
remark made was that he-had a larger cc 
mand than any general in the field, and t 
was tortured into the remark first above m 
tioned. The remark at the graveyard tl 
“ the Yankees : were getting the land t! 
came for,” was actually made but not by h 
(Wirz), but by another officer who was pr 
ent. 

After referring in complimentary terms 
the members of the, ‘ Commission, Capt 
Wirz concludes thus: 

“The statement which I now close A 
probably survive me and you alike; it i 
stand as a complete answer to all the mass 
‘ misrepresentation heaped against me. & 



THE TRIAL 


i God so direct and enlighten you in your de¬ 
liberations, that your character for impartial¬ 
ity and justice may be protected, my charac- 
i ter defended, and the few days of my natural 
• life spared.to my helpless family.” $ 

I After the prisoner had finished the reading 
of his plea, the Court adjourned till the 20th 
of October, to give Colonel Chipman time to 
| prepare his summing up argument for the 
Government. 

| TEE ARGUMENT FOE THE PROSECU¬ 
TION. 

■ 

* The Court re-assembled on the 24th, when 
Colonel Chipman delivered the following able 
and graphic argument: 

He spoke as follows: In a field so broad, 
presenting so many issues and involving so 
many persons, it had been a question of seri¬ 
ous thought with him how to present the 
argument in this case, his desire being only 
to give to the Court a perspicuous and faith¬ 
ful analysis of the testimony: /‘nothing 
extenuating, and setting down naught in 
malice.” 

• With thi? view, he had thought it best to 
n6tice': .First: Bitch legal objections as have 
been made' to the Commission as a judicial 
tribunal, and such other objections as may be 
deemed worthy of notice touching the man¬ 
ner in which the case has been tried. 

Second. To present a truthful analysis of 
the testimony with regard to the responsibil¬ 
ities of the parties, or the purpose of ascer¬ 
taining, as nearly as language can portray 
them, the horrors of Andersonville, that we 
may be prepared to appreciate fully the fear¬ 
ful responsibility of those inculpated by the’ 
evidence. 

Third. To examine the charge alleging con¬ 
spiracy in this connection, showing the extent 
of the conspiracy, its purposes, and the crim¬ 
inality of each of the conspirators ; and 
Fourth. To show the guilt of the prisoner 
at the bar under charge second. 

Colonel Chipman first argued the jurisdic¬ 
tion of the Court, quoting numerous author¬ 
ities to show that, the President had the con¬ 
stitutional right to convene military commis¬ 
sions to try .civilians for certain offences inci¬ 
dent to and growing out of a state of war.. 
In answering some objections which had been 
made, he said witnesses had been summoned 
for the defence, and their expenses,while in 
attendance at the Court and coming from 
and returning to their’homes, had been paid. 
Every subpoena which had been asked for had 
been given, with the exception of a few rebel 
functionaries, for reasons already given. 01 
one hundred and six witnesses summoned, 
sixty-eight reported/and forty-two others, 
many of them soldiers and sufferers at An- 
dersonviUe, wdre discharged by the defence, 
and never put upon the stand. 


Ill 

Mr. Baker here interposed, saying he would 
not allow of exaggeration. 

The Court remarked that the record would 
settle that. 

Col. Chipman said that was the record, and 
added, besides what he had stated, that* great 
expense had been ihcuafed by‘‘luj^mshing 
counsel a completi*icopy of the reeora%pni 
day to day. Much’ indulgence had been ex¬ 
tended to thevtJefendant, which, contrasted 
with his cruel treatment of our soldiers, must 
make him more fully feel his guilt. 

Colonel Chipman proceeded at length to 
nbtice the evidence with regard to the prison 
at Andersonville, to show, by the credibility 
of some witnesses, the horrible condition of 
that place, and the sufferings inflicted. 

He then proceeded, as he said, to unfold the 
extent of the conspiracy, the purposes of the 
conspirators, and the cruel and devilish means 
resorted to for the purpose 6f accomplishing 
their ends. He said he entered upon this 
branch of the argument with regret and re¬ 
luctance. He Confessed, to a greater or less 
extent, our nationality and the good name wc 
bear are involved in the issue, but lie did 
not fear to present to the world, on this ac¬ 
count, this great conspiracy of treason, the 
confederation, of 1 traitors, though it shock the 
nrbral sentiment of the universe; for however 
much we may deplore the fact that at its head 
and front were America^ once, prominent in 
the councils of the nation, they have forfeited 
all rights; they have 'ceased, in aiiy way, to 
represent the true spirit of Americanism'. 

ThCy 1 are outlaws, criminals, and cannot, by 
their Crime?, taint our fair escutcheon. It is 
the work of treason, the legitimate result of 
that sum of all villanies, slavery, which, by 
very many proofs during the past four years, 
has shown itself capable of this last one de¬ 
veloped. When we remember that the men 
here charged, and those inculpated, but not 
named in the indictment, are some. Of thdm 
men who were at the head 6f the late rebel¬ 
lion from its beginning to its close, and as 
such chiefs sanctioned the brutal conduct of 
their soldiers' as early as the first battle of 
Bull Run ; who perpetrated unheard of cruel¬ 
ties' at Libby and Belle Isle; who encouraged 
the most atrocious propositions in their Con¬ 
gress ; who sanctioned a guerrilla biotFe of war¬ 
fare ; who instituted a system of ste’amboat 
burning and firing of cities; who employed a 
surgeonln their service to steal into bUb-Cap¬ 
ital’city infected clothing; who approved the 
criminal treatment of the captured garrisons- 
of Fort Pillow, Fort Washington, and elde-- 
where; who were guilty of the basest treach¬ 
ery in sending paroled prisoners into the field; 
who planted torpedoes in the paths of our 
soldiers; who paid their 'emissaries for loading 
shell in the shape of coal, and intermixing’ 
them in the fuel of our steamers; who ordered: 
an indescriminate firing upon our transports’ 
and vessels, and railroad trains, regardless of 
whom they contained; who organized and 
carried to a successful termination a most' 




THE TRIAL. 


M3 

diabolical conspiracy to assassinate the. Presi¬ 
dent of the Uiiited States. When we remem¬ 
ber these things of these men, may we not, 
without hesitancy, believe this case to be p.art 
of the conspiracy here charged ? Let us. see, 
said Colonel Chipman, what, the evidences are 
of commofl^tl^lgn to murder, by starvation, 
thcs^HfSpless, helpTeSlg vL^ims. 

.First. Who are the offers, high and low, 
civil and military, whom th%.-evidence impli- 
' cates in the gfeat crime ? As ne r should show 
by the evidence, there are associated in this 
conspiracy, as directly.implicated, aijd as per¬ 
petrators, the prisoner at the bar, Brigadier- 
General John H. Winder, feurgeon Isaiah H. 
White, Surgeon R. R. Stevenson, Dr, Kerr, 
Captain R. 1|. Winder, Captain W. S. Win¬ 
der, Captain Reed, James H. Duncan, W. W. 
Turner, and Ben. Harris. Remote from the 
scene, but no less responsible than those 
named: nay, with a greater weight of guilt 
resting upon them, the leader of the rebel¬ 
lion, his war minister, his surgeon-general, 
his commissary and quartermaster-general, 
his commissioner of exchange,- and all others 
sufficiently high in authority to have pre¬ 
vented these atrocities, and to whom the 
knowledge of them was brought. 

(pliief among the conspirators and the ac¬ 
tual perpetrators in the crime, the immediaiq 
tool, first and last, of the rebel government, 
we shall see was General Winder. It was 
proper, therefore,, to know who he was,, and- 
the precise relatipns he bore to the govern¬ 
ment which he -represented. It was ascer¬ 
tained, from many sources, that he had, for 
a long time prior to the organization pf the 
Aiidersonville prison, been at the head of the 
military prisons in and around Richmond, 
holding also the position of provost-marshal 
of that important centre of the rebellion. 
9ne of the witnesses testified that.his rule as 
provost-marshal was almost, a reign of terror; 
that his authority was so great he could 
arrest men indiscriminately, even in distant 
States, and that he was constantly sustained 
and supported by President Davis and his 
confidential advisers and premier, Mr. Ben¬ 
jamin. 

It was thought wise by the rebel authorities 
to organize the Andersonville prison, and the 
whole matter was placed in the hands of Gen¬ 
eral Winder, by orders issued from the War 
Department for that purpose.. The evidence 
was .quoted at length to show General Win¬ 
der’s unlimited control of the prison, and the 
heartless expressions, both of himself qmd 
sons, concerning the cruel treatment of the 
risoners, Captain W. S. Winder saying, when 
e was laying out the stockade, “ I’m going 

to build a pen here-that wijl kill more-- 

Yankees than can be destroyed in the front.” 
Colonel Chipman proceeded to show how this 
plan had been emphatically carried out, quo¬ 
ting from the evidence for that purpose. It 
was not credible that such an immense prison 
as that at Andersonville, used as a receptacle 
for prisoners from all parts of the south, was 


unknown to the . '> • 1 ai 

that the whole man ■ off >. e suiv.. n 
of the prisoners, th • • • .-rY.jhcir 
everything, was left in ' . : V«t i-i.vn 
tofore obscure man, nov ‘ *• 
said that during these sti 1 no* times til 
prisoner and the other oh .3 charged we 
doing all in their power to alleviate the silffe 
ings so well known at Richmond and Andc; 
sonvillp. Without now stopping to inqui; 
what could have beeii done, and what w 
shown, by a cloud of witnesses, to have be< 
in their power, Colonel Chipman noticed wh 
was done in furtherance of the conspirac 
insisting that Captain W. S. Winder remaim 
true to his purpose, as he declared, and in mo 
ways than one demonstrated how true was h 
purpose “to build a pen that would kill mo 

-Yankees than could be destroyed in tl 

front.” The prisoner at the bar, despite 1 
his pretended protests at the time, despi 
the individual and widely separated instanc< 
of humanity which have been paraded her 
remained as he truly said in his letter to M 
jor-General Wilson, which was the first itei 
of evidence introduced in this trial, “ the to< 
in the hands of his superiors.” 

He had introduced himself to the prisonei 
by stopping their rations the first day he w:: 
on duty. He had instituted between th: 
time and the time of General Winder’s a 
rival a system of the most unheard-of cru 
and inhuman punishment. He had made h 
name a terror among the prisoners, and h 
society a reproach to his comrades upo 
whom he inflicted it. He had establishe 
the dead-line and all its accompanying ho 
rors. He had given to prisoners a foreshat 
owing of the stocks, of tne balls and chain: 
and the chain-gang of starvation, as a punisl 
ment, and all that black catalogue of cruel! 
and suffering, unknown even to a Draconia 
code. He had declared to several of th 
prisoners engaged in the burial of the dea< 
“ This is the way I give the Yankees the Ian 
they come to fight for.” 

He had scores of times told the prisoner 
when maltreating them, that he intended t 
; starve jthem to death. He had boasted tha 
he was doing more for the Confederacy tha 
any general in the field. He had paraded th 
chain-gang for the amusement of his wife an 
daughters. He had, with drawn pistol to 
prisoner who dared to complain of the ration: 

said, “- you; I’ll give you'bullets fc 

bread.” Are you not, Col. Chipman aske( 
prepared, then, to believe that, at the time 0 
General Winder’s arrival, the. prisoner was i 
the execution of the common design, with 
knowledge of its objeot, and -acting in ha] 
mony with its chief instrument, Genen 
Winder.? This is Andersonville in part. 

The sufferings of our prisoners in part, an 
something of the evidence of the conspirac 
begun and continued up to the time of Gei 
eral Winder’s arrival, would enable the Corn 
to see whether the law governing this ques 
tion, after the recital of the facts which fp, 






lowed, do not direct them to find a verdict of 
guilty. The way to kill Yankees was well 
understood by General Winder when he said 
to Mr. Spencer, when a- protest was made 
against crowding the pen, namely, for his own 

part, he would as lief the-Yankees would 

die there as anywhere else; that, upon the 
whole, He did not know but what it was much 
better for them, and which he afterward dis¬ 
closed to Colonel Chandler in the remark, “ It 
is better to leave them in their present con¬ 
dition, until their number has been sufficiently 
reduced by death to make the present arrange¬ 
ments suffice for their accommodation.” It 
was the way well understood by the rebel 
Government when, in the teeth of the pro¬ 
tests of humane officers, and in the face of 
the official reports of the mortality of that 
place, they continued to forward prisoners, 
train load after train load, to an already over¬ 
crowded prison. It was the way dictated to 
the agent of that Government, Robert Ould, 
and revealed by him in his letter to Winder, 
where he declares, speaking of exchanges, 
" The arrangements I have made work largely 
in our favor—get rid of a set of miserable 
wretches, and relieve some of the best ma¬ 
terial I ever saw.” Adding, “This, of course, 
is between ourselves.” It was the way under¬ 
stood perfectly by General Howell Cobb, 
when, in a speech at Andersonville, he 
pointed, with terrible significance, to the 
grave-yard, remarking, “That is the way I 
would take care of them.” It was very well 
understood by the prisoner at the bar, who is 
shown to have uttered sentiments similar to 
that expressed by VV. S. Winder, on more 
than a hundred occasions. It was the way, 
the only way, indicated by the chief of the 
rebel government and his Hecretary of War, 
else why did he, with this frightful picture 
before him, deliberately fold General Win¬ 
der’s letter, indorsing it, noted filed, J. S. S. 

Colonel Chipman at*length proceeded to 
show that the evidence further connected the 
Richmond government with those atrocities. 
Instead of General Winder having his'com¬ 
mission taken from him, and tried for a viola¬ 
tion of the laws of war, for cruelty, inhu¬ 
manity, and murder; instead of being held 
up by that government as a warning to 
others, giving a color of justice' to their 
cause, he was promoted, rewarded, and given 
a command of wider scope and greater power, 
*but still in a position to egrry out the pur¬ 
poses of this government toward prisoners 
of war. 

History is full of examples similar in charac¬ 
ter, where a government seeking to carry out 
its ends, has selected as tools men like Winder, 
and history, faithful in the narrative of thh 
tacts, is faithful also in fixing upon the gov¬ 
ernment who employed such persons, and sus¬ 
tained and rewarded them, the responsibility 
for the acts of their agents. The closest scru¬ 
tiny of the immense record in this trial would 
chow that .up to the very close of that prison, 
there were no steps taken by the rebel gov¬ 


ernment,, by Gerieral Winder, or by any of 
the officers of his staff, iclothed with proper 
authority, to alleviate in any material partic¬ 
ulars, the great sufferings,of that place. 

It would be said that Jeff. Davis was not 
capable of being the instnuncj^^ff death ; ho 
was to good to bo the IVjQpdt of a pi^jon and 
withhold from shjj^jngmen. their "shanty 
rations', but he jpThtTd send 'them out of Ids 
sight, away from the prison in plain view of ,, 
his own residence, into the dense forests of- 
Georgia, add there forget them. If Jefferson 
Davis befever brought to trial for his many 
crimes, and may Heaven spare the Temple or 
Justicdrlf he he not. it will not do for him to 
upbraid and accuse his military tools, Winder 
and Wirz, as King John did Hubert for the 
death of Prince Arthur. They will turn 
upon him and say. “ Here is your hand and 
seal for all I did, and in the winking of au¬ 
thority did we understand a law.” 

Colonel Chapman next proceeded to exam¬ 
ine into the cruelties practiced upon the prison¬ 
ers, in order more certainly to connect Cap¬ 
tain Wirz with the conspiracy, and to enable 
him more undcrstandingly to examine*the 
second charge, namely, that of murder in vi¬ 
olation of the laws and custom of war. Each 
day’s record bore witness to an accumulation 
■of horrible details which there could be no 
necessity for now repeating, and to give all of 
which would’ require, almost the entire pro¬ 
ceedings to be duplicated, but he might per¬ 
haps to some purpose present briefly the prooffi 
of each phase of cruelty alleged, which he 
did. 

These included the stocks, the stoppage of 
rations, and the dead-line. It would be re¬ 
membered that during the whole course of 
this trial no instances’ had been shown where 
a soldier confined in the Andersonville stock¬ 
ade was shot at the dead-line while making 
any attempt to escape, while the cases were 
numerous where prisoners wholly unoffend¬ 
ing were thus shot. 

The law governing in cases of this kind is 
as weir defined as the law upon any other 
point, and it will he seen upon an examina¬ 
tion that nothing would justify a soldier on 
duty in shooting a prisoner under this charge* 
unless the prisoner was attempting to escape, 
or the guard had reasonable cause to'believe 
that that was his purpose. Every act of 
shooting which resulted in death under the 
orders given in this instance, was murder on 
the part of the officeraftiving the order, and 
of the soldier who eXeJ *ed it. 

After tracing the cm d > ‘ies inflicted, Colonel 
Chipman asked—“ Ca *|ir)t we safely stop 
here, and ask th%t the prisoner at the bar be 
recorded as one of the conspirators ? 1 know 
it is urged that during all this time he was 
acting under General Winders orders ; and 
for 4 the purpose of argument, I will concede 
that he was so acting. " A superior officer cam 
not order a subordinate to do an illegal act; 
and if a subordinate obey such an order, and 
disastrous consequences result, both the sm 




THE TRIAL. 


114 . 


perior and subordinate must answer for it. 
General Winder could no more command the 
prisoner to violate the laws of war than could 
the prisoner do so without orders. 

The conclusion is plain that, where such 
orders existho^are guilty, and “ a fortiori” 
where Uig ^rTsoner«a^he bar acted upon his 
owmifiotion, he was guiltya^You cannot con- 
cjmfle that the prisoner walknot one of the 
^OTispirators because he is notN^hown to have 
been present, and to have actedAn concert 
with all the conspirators. If he was one of 
the conspiracy to do an illegal act, itrmatters 
not whether he knew all his co-conspirators, 
or participated in all that they did. It is not 
nebessary to prove any direct concert of action, 
or even meeting of the conspirators. A non- 
cert may be proved by evidence of a concur¬ 
rence of the acts of the prisoner with those of 
others, connected together by a correspondence 
in point of time, and their manifest adaptation 
to effect the same object. These rules of law 
place beybnd a doubt the guilt of the prisoner, 
tor in every respect there is plainly discerni¬ 
ble a correspondence in point of time, and a 
manifest adaptation to effect the same object 
in all that la did, and these principles apply 
not only to t..e prisoner, but to all others on 
duty at Andersonville whose acts concurred 
with those of others of the conspiracy, and 
were adapted to effect the, same object. 

Colonel Chipman then proceeded to notice 
the guilt of Surgeons White and Stevenson, 
in their ill-treatmerft of the sick, and in innoc- 
ulating them with poisonous vaccine matter, 
Wirz standing by with pistol in hand, to have 
this done; all showing the wicked intent* not 
only in this, but in starving men to death in 
a region of plenty. His conclusion on this 
branch of the subject is as follows:—This is 
the record of history against the charnel 
house of Andersonville. Let the mouths of 
those who would defend these ; atrocities by 
recrimination, charging the United States 
Government with like cruelties, forever hereaf¬ 
ter be closed—Fort Delaware and Johnson’s 
Island with their twd per cent, of dead ; An¬ 
dersonville with eighty-three per cent. 

Look upon that picture and then upon this, 
and tell me there was no design to slay, I Let 
no mind, be it warped never so n^yc-h by trea¬ 
son and treasonable sympathies, doubt this 
record. For if “damned costume have not 
brazed its soul'that ifi be proof and bulwark 
against sense,” it mush believe; it cannot deny 
these things. May oj . please the Court, I 
have done with the .is, 'gument under charge 
first. I leave it wit.e cou to answer by your 
verdict whether tlyV. charge of conspiracy, 
solemnly and seric Ay preferred, can be frit¬ 
tered away and disposed of without a'single 
explanatory line in defence. I place before 
you, gentlemen* on the one hand, the protes¬ 
tations of this accused, who speaks for himself 
and his co-conspirators ; on the other, the tes¬ 
timony, of Dr. Bates, where he. declared, a s 
you remember, with faltering tone and feel¬ 
ings overpowered; 


“ I feel myself safe in saying that seventy 
five per cent, of those who died might hav< 
been saved had those unfortunate men beei 
properly cared for.” I leave it with you t< 
say whether the prisoner at the barcanacquii 
himself and his associates in crime by declar 
ing the charge here laid to be, as he told you 
a myth, a phantasy of the brain, a wild chi 
mera, as unsubstantial as the baseless fabri( 
of a vision.” ••• n , f ; 

The Court adjourned till the next day, befort 
Colonel Chipman had concluded his masterlj 
effort. 

Washington, October 21.—Judge-Advocatf 
Chipman proceeded to read his argument ii 
the case on his second point, alleging murdei 
in violation of the laws or customs pf war 
and treating the subject under four heads. 

First. The various cases of. death result 
ing from mutilation by hounds, 

Second. Those resulting from confinement 
in the stocks and chain-gang. 

Third. The case of killing of prisoners by 
the guards, pursuant to the direct orders of 
the accused at the time ; and fourth, the easel 
of killing by the prisoner’s own hand. 

’He briefly figured the responsibility of the 
accused, and that every death was a murdei 
for which he.was accountable. The use of 
the means, and the means themselves, being 
a gross violation of the laws , and customs of 
war. 

Colonel Chipman quotes from the evidence 
"to show the cruelties inflicted which i,.ul a 
fatal result. In every case where it was asked 
to hold' the prisoner responsible the testimony 
would be found positive, direct and (dear, and 
therefore the commission were not asked to 
find him guilty on vague and indefinite evi¬ 
dence; . : f bib ydw > 

The deaths resulting from the use of the 
stocks and the chain-gang, or an indiscriminate 
punishment for the hearty and the sick, the 
strong and the feeble, and the deaths conse¬ 
quent upon the pursuit, of captured prisoners 
with furious hounds* were but the natural and 
probable consequences of the apt of the pris¬ 
oner in maintaining and carrying out the 
barbarous system of discipline, 

What more natural anq probable Gian that 
a prisoner* maddened by disease and starva¬ 
tion, should, when confined in fhe chain-gang 
or the stocks, die from sucb confinement ? 
What more natural and probable than that 
the ferocious dog, when pursuing an escaping 
prisoner, should tear and mortally mutilate 
such prisoners, particularly if he was in the 
debilitated condition which was characteristia 
of most of the prisoners at Andersonville ? 
afid when death results under such eircum- 
stances, and from the adoption of such meth¬ 
ods of treatment, then an intention to kill on 
the part of him who adQpts them is a neces¬ 
sary and rightful presumption of the ’ cas6 • 
just, as an intended murder is conclusively in¬ 
ferred from the deliberate use ,pf a deadly! 
weapon. % 




the; teiala 


115 


Again, it has been laid down that the crime 
of murder is consummated whenever any one 
wilfully endangers the life of another by any 
act or omission likely to kill, and which does 
kill. It has also been declared by, high law¬ 
ful authority it is not essential that the hands 
of the party should immediately occasion the 
death. It is sufficient if he be proved to have 
used any mechanical means likely to occasion 
death, and which do ultimately occasion it; 
$3 if a man lay poison for another, with the in¬ 
tent that he should take it by mistajke for 
medicine, or expose him against his will in 
the severity of the weather, by means of 
which he dies. 

1 Colonel Chipman quoted from other au¬ 
thorities, saying, from these principles it fol¬ 
lows that when we show the prisoner’s respon¬ 
sibility for this use of the chain-gang and the 
stocks, and for the employment of the hounds, 
we show that every death resulting from 
these was *a murder for which he was to be 
held responsible, 

. Colonel Chipman proceeded at length to 
show that the prisoner at the bar encouraged 
those tuider him to murder. That picture of 
his brutality in the case of the killing of 
Ohickamauga was painted by his own hands, 
and gave a loose rein to the debased passions. 

The Colonel contented himself with a brief 
analysis of the other testimony bearing upon 
the cruelties of Wirz in connection with the 
dead-line, &c., leaving the Court to arrive at 
their own conclusion. The argument main¬ 
tained that in eighteen instances mentioned, 
deliberate murders were committed by Cap¬ 
tain Wins’s own hands. 

The Judge Advocate, in conclusion, said if 
we had traveled through the history of these 
long, weary months of torture, starving and 
death, and become familiar with each day’s 
roll of those who passed away, the mind could 
not contemplate this last thotigh briefer ros¬ 
ter of the dead without feelings of the utmost 
horror. 

Mortal man has never been called on to 
answer before a legal tribunal to a catalogue 
of crime like this. One shudders at the fact, 
and almost doubt the age we live in. I would 
not harrow up your minds by dwelling farther 
upon this awful record. The obligation you 
have taken constitutes you the sole judge of 
both law and fact. 

I pray you administer the one and decide 
the other, meting out to those, involved in 
this crime of the universe all justice, without 
fear, favor, or partiality, and without regard 
to position, high or low r , of those proved 
guilty. 

FINDINGS AND DEATH SENTENCE. 

, War Department, Adjutant-General’s Of¬ 
fice, Washington, Nov. 6, 1865.—General 
Court-martial Orders, No. 607.—II—Before a 
M ilitary Commission which Convened at Wash¬ 
ington,'D. C., August 23d, 1865, pursuant to 
paragraph 3, Special Orders. No. 453, dated 


August 23d, 1865, and paragraph 13, Special 
Orders No. 524, dated October 2d, 1865, War 
Department, Adjutant-Generars Office, Wash¬ 
ington, and of which Major-General Leivis 
Wallace, United States volunteers, is Presi¬ 
dent, was arraigned and triedJJ^jnry Wirz. 

Charge 1.-—Malicioii|fcjrr wilfulty, trai¬ 
torously, and in akjNei the then existing ami, a 
rebellion againsULhc United States of America, 
on or befor e ^tne first day of March, A. D. - 
1864, and qA divers other days between that ^ 
day and the 10th day of April 1865, combin¬ 
ing, copfedetating, and conspiring, together 
with John H. Winder, Richard B. Winder, 
Joseph White, W. S. Winder, R. R. Steven¬ 
son, and others unknown, to injure the health 
and destroy the lives of soldiers in the ldili- 
tary, service of the United States, then held, 
and being prisoners of war, within the lines of 
the so-called, Confederate States, and in the 
military prisons thereof, to the end that the 
armies of the United-States might be weak¬ 
ened and impared, in violation of the laws and 
customs of war. 

Charge 2.—Murder, in violation of the la^s 
and customs of war. 

Plea.—To which charges and specifications 
the accused, Henry .Wirz, pleaded “Not 
Guilty.” 

Finding.—The Commission, having maturely 
considered the evidence adduced,- find the ac¬ 
cused, t Henry Wirz, as follows :— 

Of the specification, to charge “Guilty,” after 
amending said specification to read as follows In 
this, that he, the said Henry Wirz, did combine, con¬ 
federate, and conspire with them, the said Jefferson 
Davis, James A. Seddon, Howell Cobb, John 11. Win¬ 
der, Richard B. Winder, Isaiah H. W T hite, W. S. 
Winder, W. Shelby Reed, R. R. Stevenson, S. P. 

Moore,-Kerr, late hospital steward at Anderson* 

ville, James Duncan, Wepley W. Turner, Benjamin 
Harris, and others, whose names are unknown, citi¬ 
zens of the United States aforesaid, and were then 
engaged in armed rebellion against the United States, 
maliciously, traitorously, and in violation of the laws 
of war, to impair and injure the health, and to destroy 
the.iives, by subjecting to torture and great suffering, 
by confining in unhealthy and unwholesome quarters, 
by exposing to the inclemency of winter, and to the 
dews and burning sun of summer, by compelling the 
use of impure water, and by furnishing insufficient and 
unwholesome food, of large numbers of Federal pris- 
ouers, to wit^the number of about forty-five thou¬ 
sand, soldiers in the military service of the United 
States of America, held as prisoners of war at Ander- 
sopvillo, in the State of Georgia, within the. lines of 
the so-called Confederate States, on or before the 27th 
day of March, A. D. 1864, and at divers times between 
that day and the 10th day of April, A. D. IS65, to 
the end that the armies of the United States might 
be weakened and impaired, and the insurgents en¬ 
gaged in armed rebellion against the United States 
might be aided and comforted ; and he, the said Henry 
Wirz, an officer in the military service of the, so-called 
Confederate States, being then and there command¬ 
ant of a military prison at Andersonyille, in the 
State of Georgia, located by authority of the so-called 
Confederate States, for the confinement of prisoners 
of war, and as a commandant, fully clothed with au¬ 
thority, and in duty bound to treat, care and provide 
for, such prisoners held as aforesaid as were or might 
be placed in his custody, according to the laws of war, 
l did, in furtherance of such combination, confedera- 









116 


THE TRIAL, 


toin and conspiracy, maliciously, wickedly and trai¬ 
torously confine a large number of prisoners of war, 
soldiers in the military service of the United States, 
to the number of about forty-five thousand men, in 
unhealthy and unwholesome quarters, in a close and 
small area of ground, wholly inadequate to their want; 
and destrueti^erto-Jjieir health, which he well knew 
and int en ded, and while’there so confined during the 
tinu^tfimresaid, did, in furtherance of his evil designs 
andfin aid of the said conspiracy, wilfully and ma¬ 
liciously neglect to furnish tents^^arracks or other 
shelter sufficient for their protection Tr*|n the inclem¬ 
ency of winter and the dews and burning sun of 
summer; and with such evil intent did Uake and 
cause to be taken from them their clothing, blankets, 
camp equipage, and other properly of which they 
were possessed at the time of being placed in*his cus¬ 
tody; and with like malice and evil intent, did refuse 
to furnish or cause to be furnished food either of a 
quality or quantity sufficient to preserve health or 
sustain life, and did refuse and neglect to* furnish 
wood sufficient for cooking in summer, and to keep 
the prisoners warm in winter, and did compol the said 
prisoners to subsist upon unwholesome food, and that 
in limited quantities entirely inadequate to sustain 
health, which he well knew ; and did compel the said 
prisoners to use unwholesome water, reeking with the 
filth and garbage of the prison and prison guard, and 
the offal and drainage of the cook-house of said 
prifftft, whereby the prisoners became greatly reduced 
in tlieir bodily strength, and emaciated and injured in 
their bodily health, their minds impaired, and their 
intellect broken,, and many of them, to wit, about the 
number of ten thousand/whose names are unknown, 
sickened and died, by reason thereof, which he, the 
said Henry Wirz. thon and there well knew and in¬ 
tended; and so knowing and evilly intending, did 
refuse and neglect to provide proper lodgings, food or 
nourishment for the sick, and necessary medicine and 
medical attendance for the restoration of their health, 
and did kffowingly, wilfully and maliciously in further¬ 
ance of his evil designs, permit them to die from want 
of care and proper treatment; and the said Henry 
Wirz, still pursuing his evil purposes, did permit to 
remain in the said prison, among the emaciated, sick 
and languishing living, the bodies of the dead until 
they became corrupt and loathsome, and filled the 
air with fetid and noxious exhalations, and thereby 
greatly increased the unwholesomeness of the prison, 
insomuch that numbers of said prisoners, whose 
names are unknown, sickened nnd died by reason 
thereof. And the said Henry Wirz, still pursuing 
bis wicked and cruel purpose, wholly disregarding the 
usages of civilized warfare, did, at the time and 
place aforesaid, maliciously and wilfully subject the 
prisoners aforesaid to cruel, unusual and infamous 
punishment, upon slight, trivial and fictitious pre¬ 
tenses, by fastening large halls of iron to their feet, and 
binding numbers of the prisoners aforesaid closely to¬ 
gether with large chains around their necks and feet, 
so that they walked with the greatest difficulty, and 
being so confined, wore subjected to the burning rays 
rtf the sun, often without food or drink, for hours and 
oven days, from which said cruel treatment numbers 
whose names are unknown, sickened, fainted, and 
died. And he, the said Wirz, did further cruelly treat 
and injure said prisoners by maliciously tying them up 
by tlieir thumbs and wilfully confining them with an 
instrument of torture called “ the stocks,” thus depri¬ 
ving them of the use of their limbs, and forcing them 
to lie. sit and stand for many hours without the power 
0.f changing position, and being without food or drink, 
in consequence of which many, whose naras are un¬ 
known, sickened and died ; and he, the said Wirz, 
still wickedly pursuing his evil purpose, did establish 
and cause to be designated within the prison inclosuro 
containing said prisoners, a “ dead-line,” being a line 
around the inner face of the stockade or wall inclosing 
aaid prison, and about twenty feet distant from'and 


within said stockade, and having established said dead 
line, which was in some pluces an imaginary line, anc 
in other places marked by insecure and shifting stripi 
of boards nailed upon the top of small and insecurt 
stakes or posts, he, the said Wirz, instructed the prisot 
guard stationed around the top of said stockade, t( 
fire upon and kill any of the prisoners aforesaid Wht 
might fall upon, or pass over or under or across th< 
said “dead-line,” pursuant to which said orders anc 
instructions maliciously aud needlessly given by said 
Wirz, the said prison guard did firo upon and kill a 
number of said prisoners. And the said Wirz, still 
pursuing his evil purpose, djd keep and use ferocioui 
and bloodthirsty dogs, dangerous to human life, to 
hunt down prisoners of war aforesaid, who made their 
escape from custody, and did then and there wilfully 
and maliciously suffer, incite and encourage the feaid 
dogs to seize, tear, mungle and maim the bodies and 
1 limbs of said fugitive prisoners of war, which, as 
aforesaid, then and there did escape, whereby a larga 
number of said prisoners of war, who during the time 
aforesaid, made their escape and were recaptured, 
died. And the said Wirz, still pursuing his wicked 
purpose, and still aiding in carrying out said conspir¬ 
acy, did caqse to be used for the pretended purpose 
of vaccination, impure nnd poisonous vaccine matter, 
which said impure and poisonous vaccine matter wai 
then and there, by the direction and order of said Wira, 
maliciously, cruelly and wickedly deposited in the 
arms of many of said prisoners, by reason of which 
largo numbers of thorn lost the use of their arms, nnd 
many of them were so injured that they soon there-* 
after died: all of which he, the said Henry Wira, 
well knew and maliciously intended, and in aid of 
the then existing rebollion against the United States, 
with the view to assist in weakening and impairing 
the armies of the United States, and in furtherance 
of the said conspiracy, and with a full knowledge, 
'conseut, and connivanco of his ,ftt>-conspiratyrs afore¬ 
said, he, the said Wirz, then and there did. 

Of charge I, “Guilty,” after amending said charge 
to read as follows—“ Maliciously, wilfully and trai¬ 
torously, and in aid of the then existing armed 
rehellion against the United States of America, on or 
before the twenty-seventh day of March. A. D. 1864, 
and on divers other days between that day and the 
tenth day of April, 1865, combining, confederating 
and conspiring, together with Jefferson Davis. James 

A. Seddon, Howell Cobh, John 11. Winder, Richard 

B. Winder, Isaiah H. White, W. S. Winder, W. Shelby 

Reed, R. R. Stevenson, S. P. Moore,-Kerr, late 

hospital steward at Andersonville, James Duncan, 
Wesley W. Turner, Benjamin Harris, and others un¬ 
known, to injure the health and destroy the lives of 
soldiers in the military service of the United States, 
then held and being prisoners of war within the lines 
of the so-called Confederate States, and in the mili¬ 
tary prisons thereof, to the end that the armies of th« 
United States might be weakened and impaired, in 
violation of the laws and customs of war.” 

Of specification first, to Charge II, “ Guilty, add¬ 
ing the words ‘or about’ immediately before the 
phrase ‘ the ninth day of July.’” 

Of specification second to charge II, “Guilty.” 

Of specification third to charge II, “Guilty, after 
striking out ‘June,’and inserting, instead, ‘ Septem- 
her.’” i 

Of specification four to charge .11. “Not guilty.” 

Of specification five to Charge II, “Guilty,* after 
striking out the phrase ‘on the thirteenth day,’and 
inserting instead the phrase, ‘on or about the twenty* 
fifth day.’ ” 

Of specification six to Charge IT, “Guilty, after 
striking out the word ‘first’ and inserting ‘fifteenth,* 
and also striking oht the phrase ‘on the sixth day,' 
and inserting instead the phrase, ‘on or about the 
sixteenth day.’” 

Of specification,second to charge II. “Guilty, after 
striking out the words ‘ twentieth,’ and inserting ia- 




THE TRIAL. 


lit 


■tead the word ‘first/ nnd also after inserting ‘ on or 
about’immediately before the phrase of the ‘forty- 
fifth day.’” 

Of specifications eight and nine to charge II, 
* Guilty.” 

Of specification ten to charge IT. “Not guilty.” 

Of specification eleven to charge II, “ Guilty, after 
striking out the word ‘first/ and inserting instead the 
word ‘ sixth / after striking out also the phrase ‘ in- 
•ite and urge/ and the phrase ‘encouragement and 
instigation/ and by adding the words ‘ or about’ after 
the word ‘on/ where it last occurs in the specifica¬ 
tion; and also after striking out the phrase, ‘ animals 
called bloodhounds/ and inserting the word‘dogs/ 
and also striking out the word * bloodhounds’ where 
it afterward occurs, and inserting ‘dogs/ and also • 
striking out the words ‘ given by him/ ” 

Of specification twelve to charge II, “Guilty.” 

Of specification thirteen to charge II, “ Not guilty.” 

Of the second charge, “ Guilty.” 

Sentence .—And the Commission does there¬ 
fore sentence him, the said Henry Wirz, “to 
be hanged by the neck till he be dead, at such 
time and place as the President, of the United 
States may direct, two-thirds of the members 
of the Court concurring therein.” 

II. The proceedings, findings and sentences 
in the foregoing case having been submitted 
to the President of the United States, the fol¬ 
lowing are his orders: 

Executive Mansion, Nov. 3, 1865. 

The proceedings, findings, and sentence of 
the Court, in the within case, are approved, 
and it is ordered that the sentence be carried 
into execution by the officer commanding the 
Department of Washington, on Friday, the 
10th day of November, 1865, between the 
hours'of 6 o’clock a. m., and 12 o’clock noon. 

Andrew Johnson, President. 

III. Major-General C. C. Augur, command¬ 
ing the Department of Washington, is com¬ 
manded to cause the foregoing # sentence in the 
case of Henry Wirz, to bo duly executed in 
accordance with the President’s order. 

IV. The Military Commission, of which 
Mi ijor-General' Lewis Wallace, United States 
volunteers, is president, is hereby dissolved. 

13y command of the President of the United 
States. E. D. ; Townsend, 

Assistant Adjutant General. 

A SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND EXECU¬ 
TION CP HERBS’ WIRZ, THE DEMON 
0? ANDEBSONVILLE. 

Henry Wirz, whose name for all time to 
come will be loaded with execration by all true 
Americans, and by all men of whatever 
nationality, who possess in their bosoms a 
spark of human mercy or compassion, was 
horn at the town of Zurich, in Switzerland^ 
November, 1823, of respectable and well to do 
parents. He wished to become a physician, 
but to this his father would not consent, and 
he was placed in a commercial house at Zu¬ 
rich. To better his condition he emigrated to 
the United States in 1849, landing at New 
York; here he endeavored to become a physi¬ 
cian ; ’ failing in this, he went to Lawrence, 
Mass., and obtained work as a weaver in^ one 
of the numerous mills of that town. Vv hile 


here he bebame acquainted with the proprie¬ 
tor of a water cure establishment at North¬ 
ampton, in the same state. Here he picked 
up his first ideas of the healing art. From 
this institute of hydropathy, he went to Ken¬ 
tucky, and obtained a situatipirm J a n drng store 
at Louisville, where lie finished his medical 
education. We rapt find him in Mississippi, 
practicing as a^doctor on a plantation, and in 
this vocation-he continued till the outbreak of 
the rebelUpu, 

Durinapthe secession agitation which pre- 
I ceeded the open acts of hostility on the part 
of the rebels, Wirz gained for himself a little 
local notoriety by his rabid denunciations of 
the United States Government, and the loyal 
people of the North. His intense defamation 
of the Government to which he had volunta¬ 
rily sworn fealty gained him little respect even 
among the secessionists by whom he was 
surrounded. 

When actual hostilities began, Wirz, al¬ 
though he was a physician, and the South 
was greatly in need of doctors, could not ob¬ 
tain a surgeon’s commission in the reb^l 
forces. P»ut his innate cruel nature thirsted 
for blood, and he voluntarily entered the army 
of treason as an enlisted soldier. 

The rebel leaders possessed the discrimina¬ 
ting faculty of selecting the most depraved 
men that could be found, to execute to the 
full, their develish works. 

In the latter part of 1861, and beginningof 
’62, Wirz first made himself infamous, as a 
military prison keeper; at this tirae*he held 
the rank of sergeant-major, and had the im¬ 
mediate charge of the Union prisoners of war 
confined in Libby prison. Among the bravo 
boys who were then incarcerated at Richmond, 
were those who had the misfortune to be taken 
prisoners at first Bull Run and Ball’s Bluff. 
At that early stage of the war, our prisoners 
spoke of Wirz a3 the “infernal Dutch Ser¬ 
geant.” The captured heroes of Ball’s Bluff, 
or Bull Run, who experienced the cruelties of 
Wirz at Libby, describe him as a man of a 
violent and ungovernable temper, of a cruel 
and ferocious disposition, and habitually vent¬ 
ing bis demoniac rage on the unarmed and 
helpless men in his' power. His profanity is 
spoken of as horrible, and was freely launched 
t at the unoffending heads of our men. His 
atrocious conduct ■ and develish disposition 
while at Libby won the admiration of his 
rebel masters, and as*a reward for his brutali¬ 
ty, he had conferred upon him the commission 
of second lieutenant. 

To baptise his shoulder straps, he was sent 
to the front during McClellan’s operations 
before Richmond in the spring and summer of 
’62. At the battle of Fair Oaks he was 
wounded in the arm with a fragment of a 
shell. This wound, from some unexplained 
reasons, 0 procured the Swiss subaltern a fur¬ 
lough to go to Europe. And he returned to 
his native Switzerland. He might have re¬ 
mained there had he wished, for he alledged 
on his trial that he was forced to enter the 





118 


THE TKIAL. 




rebel army, and conld not get oot. Yet for 
over a year he lingered in Europe, beyond the 
reach of the myrmidons of Jeff. Davis. But 
he voluntarily returned to the United States, 
and to Richmond in the spring of 1864.— 
Before hjL^aa*i^hfl£k> General Winder, the 
tebel^chrrefof prisoners of war, had perfected 
thop'plon of murdering the Union soldiers in 
rdbel hands as prisoners, by, starvation, by 
overcrowding, and by exposur&*^o all weath¬ 
ers. The obscure village of Andersonville, 
in the heart of Georgia, was chosltn as One 
of the places where to carry out thrfe hellish 
plan. The largest prison pen w® here 
erected, and here of course the most men 
were to be tortured to death. And of ml the 
men engaged in the rebel cause, the obscure 
Swiss Lieutenant Wirz was chosen as the 
most fitting man to put into thorough execu¬ 
tion this crime of all crimes. 

Wirz would have remained in Europe, had 
not General Winder, with the full knowledge 
and sanction of the rebel authorities, written 
to ‘him, telling him that he was wanted to tor¬ 
ture and murder at his discretion the Union 
soldiers whose fate it was to be captured in 
battle- by the rebels. Wirz could not with¬ 
stand the offer of employment that suited his 
brutal nature so well. He left Europe at once, 
and hastened back to the rebel headquarters. 
Here he was clothed with the additional rank 
of captain, and sent at once to the place, the 
very name of which he was destined to asso¬ 
ciate with all that is barbarous, inhuman, cru¬ 
el, depraved, horrible, and develish. Humanity 
shudders at the very mention of the name of 
Andersonville. The atrocities he committed 
there would pass belief, we?e they not fully 
attested and vouched for before an impartial 
military Court, the official proceedings of 
which are fully set forth in the preceding 
pages. 

When Johnston had surrendered to Sher¬ 
man, and treason lay vanquished and bleeding 
at the feet of triumphant liberty and union, 
Wirz endeavored to steal out of the country 
under a safeguard. The monster had the as¬ 
surance to claim immunity for, his numberless 
deeds of cruelty and murder, on the ground 
that he was a rebel officer, and included in the 
terms of Johnston’s surrender. This impor¬ 
tant point was justly overruled. The Demon 
was arrested, brought to AVashington, and con¬ 
fined in the Old Capital prison. 

After the assassins af the beloved and la¬ 
mented President Lincoln were hung, the 
charges and specifications against the monster 
were prepared, a military court convened, and 
the murderous wretch brought face to face 
with justice. During the trial he took an in¬ 
tense interest in the proceedings., and closely 
watched every witness, i j, j 

HIS APPEAEAOTE c 

Wirz was five feet ten inches in height, of 
a thin, spare figure, which made him seem 
taller than he really was. His complexion 


was dark; hair, beard, and moustache, black* 
mixed with gray. During the trial he wa3 
dressed in a black cloth coat and pantaloons,' 
with white shirt, collar turned down, a la By¬ 
ron, over a thick, heavy black silk handker¬ 
chief. His head gear consisted of a well-worn, 
greasy-looking old silk hat, and this, with his 
seedy looking, threadbare clothes, gave him 
a shabby genteel appearance. 

THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 

On the 6th Of November, he was informed 
by General Augur, that he was sentenced to 
be hanged, and would suffer the penalty of his 
crimes on the 10th. AYirz received the news 
of his doom with perfect unconcern, merely 
remarking, “ AVell, I suppose it must be done ;” 
he then went to the door of his Cell and called 
out to General Briscoe,> who was confined 
on the opposite side of his cell, “ General, I am: 
to be hung on Friday.” As General Augur 
was leaving him he said, “ after I am dead I; 
will come back and haunt all of you.” 

Having been born in the Roman Catho¬ 
lic faith, a priest was sent- to him, to prepare 
him for his end. He received the ministra¬ 
tions of the priest apathetically; expressed 
no sorrows for his hideous cruelties, scoffed at 
the United States Government, and on the 
night before his execution, he remarked to 
Colonel Baker, that the “ American Eagle 

was a d-d turkey buzzard. He slept 

soundly during his last night on earth, but 
was aroused at three o’clock by his spiritual 
comforters to engage in prayer, and prepare 
for the end. He listened to the prayers, in¬ 
sisted he was innocent, and would not forgive 
any one. 

IN THE PRISON YARD. 

On the morning of the 10th of November, 
the preparations were all complete, one hun¬ 
dred civilian spectators were present, and a 
battalion of soldiery The latter were arranged 
in a hollow square about 

THE GALLOWS. 

This instrument of justice was made of 
heavy timber, and presented a somewhat 
weather worn appearance. Its extreme height 
was twenty-two feet; the platform was twelve 
feet from the ground, and twelve feet square ; 
in the Centre of this platform, and Olevatedone 
foot above it, was the fatal drop ; a chair stood 
upon it. and from the stout beam overhead 
dangled a noose of fine manilla rope. 

THE END APPROACHING-. 

• • t 

At fifteen minutes past ten o’clock, the 
prisoner emerged from his cell, walking 
between father Boyle and Wiget. He had a 
loose robe of black cambric thrown over his 
person, carried his right arm in a sling, had 
no manacles of any kind upon his person, an<5 
walked with a light, careless step, toward the 
gallows. He ran briskly up the steps, and 
walked at once toward the chair, and seated 






THE TRIAL. 




119 


himself directly tinder the fatal noose. The 
roofs of the surrounding houses were packed 
with people, who looked in upon t^he punish¬ 
ment of the monster. 

Major Russel took his station directly in 
, front of him, and read in a clear, loud tone, 
the charges, specifications, findings, and sen¬ 
tence. During this long reading, Wirz list- 
‘ ened, shaking his head and smiling occasion¬ 
ally. No shade of sorrow or remorse 'flitted 
across his countenance. The reading ended, 
lie was asked if he had anything to say ; he 
1 replied with a broad grin “No, I have nothing 
to say to the public.” 

THE END. 

1 The priests whispered their parting admo- 
| nitions; the black cap was drawn over the 
face of the condemned ; he was told to stand 
up; the rope was fastened around his neck, and 
his legs an# arms secured with cords. At 
twenty minutes to eleven o’clock, Major Rus¬ 
sel made a signal, and on the instant the trap 
I fell, and the demon of Andersonville was 
swinging between heaven and eart^. The’ 
clatter of the falling trap was answered by a 
loud yell from the crowd congregated outside 
of the prison walls. A few convulsive jerks, 
and life was extinct. At eleven o’clock the 
corpse was taken down, examined by the phy¬ 
sicians, and officially declared dead. It was 
then placed in a coffin, and given to father 
Boyle. And thus ended the career of a faith¬ 
ful servant of the Devil and Jeff. Davis. 




ANDERSONVILLE. 

NAME, HISTORY, ETC. 

Strange as it may seem, this, the most infamous 
spot on the American soil, has its name from one of 
the most honorable actors in American history. In 
1852, a station and postoffice were established here, 
and the superintendent of the southwestern railroad, 
for coincidence's sake, named it Andersonville. The 
station is in Sumter county, and Major Anderson, a 
friend of his, had lately assumed command of Fort 
Sumter. 

At the beginning of the war, Andersonville con¬ 
sisted of four dwelling-houses, a church, and a post- 
office. I cannot learn the precise time whop it was 
selected as a site for a prison-pen. At any rate, a 
force of three hundred negroes were employed many 
months in constructing it, and the first prisoners were 
put in it on Washington’s birth-day, 1864, and the 
first man died in it on February 27th, 1864. At first 
it was intended for ten thousand men, and contained 
but sixteen acres;,but afterward it was enlarged to 
its present dimensions. The last man died in it 
April 28th, 1865. 

LOCATION AND GROUNDS. 

Andersonville is sixty miles below Maoon, on the 
southwestern railroad. Here the road runs nearly 
due south, the cemetery and stockade being on the 
east side, and about a third of a mile from it. The 
cemetery is about half a mile north of the stockade, 
on considerably higher ground, in an old cleared field. 


When the cars are opposite it they are in a deep cut, 
so that nothing can be seen except the great bright 
flag which floats in the centre of the cemetery. 
Approaching nearer the station, the white fence and 
the thousands of white head boards are 6een a little 
in the rear, while somewhere in advance «f the train, 
through the pine trees, the griy^ walls-of the stockade 
make their appearance. Every eye is stmiped, and 
every voice is hushpd while the train slowly jtgIIj 
forward to the station. Si 

'gT- THE INTERIOR 

presents now an appearance much as if it had been 
buriywed'by prairie-dogs. On the sides of the banks 
the men excavated little pits, large enough for one, 
two, three, or four, propping up the roof with boards 
and poles, and sometimes trusting to the firmness of 
the sand alone for support. So sijiooth and so hard 
are these walls, in many cases, that they have graven 
their names upon them. Some built little fire-places 
in the wall, with a chimney ascending through the 
ground, and slept with their feet toward it. Others 
placed the chimney beside the narrow door. Evi¬ 
dently they “ smoked” badly, as the walls are black¬ 
ened over. On the level surface they placed a pole on 
two stakes, leaned against it a few boards, and cov¬ 
ered them with straw and sand, leaving only a narrow 
entrance at one end. All took care to place the 
•chimney so that they could sleep before it. Otbflfrs 
still, mixed clay and sand, and moulded from it, with 
their hands, rude bricks, with which they built 
“Dutch ovens,” that appear to have served a good 
ptirpo|-e. After - the interior was well heated, they drew 
out the fire and put in their meat. Little sqiinre plates, 
roughly bent together from a she€t of iron, and 
punched with hdT3*yTbr s&i-ved, ox-horns, furnished 
with strings, serving for salt-cellars or drinking- 
vessels ; wooden paddles, small pieces of iron beaten 
thin, preciously preserved for many uses, and small 
scraps of iron, furtively hid in convenient crevices, 
lie scattered about. The bones which they had picked 
were broken to pieces for the marrow. 

WELLS AND SPRING3. 

The number of wells is stated at fifty. It was diffi¬ 
cult to find them. It is the tradition here, among the 
negroes and the inhabitants,, that the prisoners used 
split peach-tree twigs, after the manner of “water- 
kungers,” as the negroes have it, to ascertain where 
they should dig—and with true Yankee shrewdness, 
the boys seem to have frequently “discovered indica¬ 
tions” close to the dead-line. By digging here they 
would be enabled to burrow out—and I am surprised 
that the guard should allow them to do it. One of these 
wells is sflll shown where a number of the prisoners 
made ailong tunnel, at least twelve feet underground, 
and qseilped. All these wells have Scripture names, 
as “JaeSb’s well,” Ac. 

Let’s Drink, is a fine clear shaft of water, bub¬ 
bling up right in the channel of the creek, and fur¬ 
nishing a stream of three inches in diameter. Pro- 
vokingly enough, it comes up just outside of the dead¬ 
line, and I can well imagine that m$re than ono poor 
fellow has paid the penalty of his life for^eeking to 
taste its clear waters at the fountain-headi Prison¬ 
ers’ Comfort seems to have been a providential gift to 
the prisoners, since it broke out in a place where none 
had been before, while they were most in need of 
water. It, too, comes out a few inches outside of the 
fatal dead-line ; but a trough was placed dn such a 
way that it was carried inside the line and madf 
available to the prisoners. 

The margins of the creek are now covered with 
willows and sedges, but when it was trodden by the 
prisoners it was a bed of miry mud. One of fey in¬ 
formants, who had gpeen the prisoners once while 
there, told me he had seen the whole channel of the 
creek, and the cool, oozy mud beside it, covered with 







120 


THE TRIAL. 


men, lying flat, who sought thus some refugo from the 
heat. When they did this, the scant supply from the 
wells, and the single trough, was their only resort for 
water to drink. Frequently the sick lay for hours in 
this creek, as the most comfortable place they could 
select. A Considerable length of the creek, near 
where it issues* from the stockade, was converted 

Into a sink. 

■ 

THE CEMETERY. 

- A 

In a well-chosen, level piece of groun^l, half a mile 
to the north of the stockade, and surrottnded on all 
rides by walls of pine, the dead of Andersqnville lie 
buried. It is creditable to their comrades that such a 
spot was selected, and that such caro and taste was 
exercised in burying them. The lot is now inclosed 
by a picket-fence, whitewashed, which is completed 
on three sides, and will soon be on the fourth, where- 
there is now a temporary structure of boards. It is 
estimated to contain fifty acres. The principal en¬ 
trance now is on the south side, toward the stockade ja 
but it is intended, when it is completed, to havo it on 
the west side, toward the railroad. The plan at pres¬ 
ent is, that the lot shall be divided into four sections, 
by two roads crossing in the centre, at which point is 
be erected a splendid monument, now being de¬ 
signed at Washington. A road will be cut through 
tl» thick pines to the railroad, and the side of the cut 
leafed, so that travellers may catch a sight of the 
monument us they pass. Entering at the south gate, 
we passjup along the road. On the right are three 
sections qf gravps, of about three-quarters of an acre 
each, divided by two alleys; and on the loft are two 
of equal effbnt. All the dead lie facing the east. The 
head-boards are ^ two ieet / and v a half high, and ten 
inches wide, with space PWftweenoifour inches, allow¬ 
ing fourteen inches to each body ; and between the 
foot of each row of graves and the next line of head- 
boards, is a brick walk. The graves are finished in a 
aoramon level, and will be neatly sodded. The head- 
boards are painted white, and lettered on the inside 
with black. In the northeast corner is a solid section 
of an acre and a quarter, and in the northwest corner 
are the graves of one hundred and fifteen rebel sol¬ 
diers, from the garrison. On the right of the gate, 
as you enter, is a placard bearing these words: 

“national cemetery, andersonville.” 

On the left is another, with the following: 

* On fame’s eternal camping-ground 
The silent tents are spread, 

• ■ And Glory gua’rds, with solemn round, 

The bivouac of the Mead.” 

Where the first alley crosses the road, on the right, is: 

“Whether in the prison drear, 

Or in the battle’s van, 

The fittest place for man to die 
Is where he dies for man." 

On the left: 

The hopes, the fears, the blood, the tears, 

Thai! marked the battle-strife, 

Are now all crownSd by victory, 

That saved the nation's life.” . 

At the second, on tho right, is : 

*A thousand battle-fields have drauk 
Tho blood of warriors brave, 

And countless homes are dark and drear 
Thro’ the land they died to save.” 

« 

r .- * 


On the left: 

“ Then shall the dust 
Return to the earth as it was; and 
The spirit shall return unto God, who gave it.* 

At the corner of the section in the northeast corner, is? 

“Through all rebellion’s horrors 

Bright shines our nation’s fame j 
Our gallant soldiers, perishing. 

Have won a deathless name.” 

In a place by themselves, lie six men—buried sidb 
by side—on each of whose head-boards is written, 
below their names, “Hung July 11, 1861.” Could 
human imagination conceive a record more infamous 
than that men should have been hung in Anderson¬ 
ville for robbing and murdering their fellow-prison- 
e*s ! They were tried and hung by the prisoners, with 
the consent of General Winder. So the hideous tale 
is told. I was told by a Union captain who was 
present at the time, several months ago, that they 
were hung by placing them on a narrow board over 
the mouth of a well, to which was tied the rope, and 
which, after allowing them five minufcs for prayer, 
was jerked from under them, precipitating them into 
the well to the leugth of the rope. Their necks were 
then wrapped about with cloths and besmeared with 
mud, so that the marks of the rope escaped the notice 
of the surgeons and the guard. 

The first prisoner who died in Andersonville wa» 
J. Swarner, Company II, second New York cavalry, 
February 27th, 1864. On the first of March there was 
one death ; on the second, one ; and so on to the fifth, 
when there were seven; on the sixth, four. On tho 
thirtieth of August there died eighty-two; on tho 
thirty-first, eighty-four; on September first, one hun¬ 
dred and five. The last death was that of R. Hanson, 
Company F, first Wisconsin, April 28th, 1865. Tho 
exact number of deaths at Andersonville, including 
those from small-pox (sixty-four) and the rebel sol¬ 
diers (one hundred and fifteen), is thirteen thousand 
and sixty-one. Since the number has been so often 
misstated, I ascertained it with accuracy from tho 
head-boards themselves 

THE SENTIMENTS OP THE PEOPLE 

are decidedly hostile to the brothers Griffin, who havo 
so faithfully looked after this historic spot, and to 
whom we undoubtedly owe its preservation from par¬ 
tial or total obliteration. They consider that no 
southern man should have identified himself with 
this placfi, aud there are mutterings and threats ac¬ 
cordingly. It was not deemed safe to leave these two 
men without a guard—they have therefore a squad of 
eight or ten men to protect them from any violence 
that might be offered. One B. B. Dykes, formerly 
postmaster here, and who has not received his par¬ 
don, is said to be plotting to disturb and to finally 
dispossess them, in order that he may turn the busi¬ 
ness into one of profit to himself. He owns tho land 
on which the cemetery stands; and though the Gov¬ 
ernment might, with perfect consistency, declare so 
much of it confiscated, it is doubtful yet whether they 
do not intend to pay him for it. The inhabitants are 
not at all communicative, and it is to little profit to 
ask them any questions concerning the prison. Be¬ 
yond pointing out Wirz’s headquarters, little can bo 
learned from them. I found, however, that it is the 
general conviction, among southerners and northern¬ 
ers alike, that the real culprit has long since gone to 
his grave, General Winder, while Wirz was only a 
passionate and irritable, though not an unusually 
malicious, tool to his bidding. 







THE I>EMON WIRE'S BLOODIIOUNi>S BEARING A UNION PRISONER, TO PIECES. 






































































































































































































































































































































































































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Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 

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Treatment Date: May 2010 


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A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

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Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-2111 




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